56: The 3 Biggest Fitness Mistakes That Are Hindering Your Progress

Do you struggle to maintain your fitness routine during the chaos of summer vacations and the endless busyness of parenting? Maybe you’ve felt overwhelmed, discouraged, or tempted by the allure of quick fixes and extreme diets. In this episode, I'll discuss the common mistakes that sabotage your fitness progress during the summer and share practical strategies for staying on track, even during travel and disrupted routines.

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https://nathaliamelofit.com/blogs/podcast/the-3-biggest-fitness-mistakes-that-are-hindering-your-progress

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Transcript

Nathalia Mello

Hello, hello there, fam. Welcome to another episode of the Unfiltered Fitlife podcast. I'm Nathalia Mello, your host. And how many of you, let me ask you this before we even start talking about today's episode. How many of you look at the summer breaks and the vacation and, you know, things being a bit all over the shop with the kids being off school and you're like, my goodness.

how in the world am I gonna be able to keep up with my fitness? And if you have ever felt this way, I want you to know that you are a normal person, congratulations. You know, especially as a parent, this is, we work with a lot of moms. So whenever it comes to this time of the year, feeling overwhelmed and feeling like fitness and taking care of your body and taking care of your nutrition,

is going to be the first thing that you're going to have to give up because everything else is so chaotic. It is normal. It is something that we hear all the time. But what I want to talk about today is the biggest mistakes, the three biggest mistakes in your fitness that you're making that are hindering your progress, not only this summer, but for the many months to come. And

As we talk about this, I want to put something to perspective.

A lot of people panic whenever we're talking about the holiday season. Okay. because you know, the holiday season is so long and it starts, you know, right around the beginning of November, right after Halloween and everything is just so chaotic and all the parties and blah, blah, blah. And a lot of people obsess just on the

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bit of a mess that the holiday season can be with all the festivities and additional things on your schedule and kids being off school as well for a big part of it. But what I want to bring to your attention is whenever we look at the summer break, okay, I don't know about your kids, but my kids have been off

since around May 13th and you're only gonna go back to school on August 9th, all right? That makes almost three months of break that I don't see a lot of people taking into account the length of time that the summer break is. And whenever we put it side by side with the holiday season,

Holiday season after Halloween, Halloween is on the 31st of October. A couple of weeks after that, that's kind of when people start to get a bit more, you know, my goodness, things are getting crazy. So 15th of November.

And then on January 1st, everybody's a new person. So we're talking about roughly six weeks.

from November 15th to January 1st.

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So I think there is something to be said on the length of time that we allow our fitness goals to be put at a waste side or to not be something that you think about because everything's so busy for 12 weeks.

in your attending barbecues and you're attending, you know, you're more outside and there are more pool parties and summer parties and birthday parties and you know, all those things.

But nobody's really panicking about that. But everybody's panicking about the holiday season, even though the holiday season is six weeks and summer is twice that.

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So now is the time to start thinking about the mistakes that you are to avoid. That way, whenever your kids go back to school or things go back to somewhat normal, you are not trying to catch up.

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Because if we put again things into perspective, let's say kids go back to school in August and you're having to catch up because fitness and taking care of your nutrition fell completely to the wayside during the summer. Then we have mid August or end of August, depending on where you are, September, October, and a couple of weeks after October into November, and then that's it.

And then things get crazy again.

So we need to stop with that mentality of waiting for the quote unquote perfect time. Because if the summer is not the perfect time, summer alone is three months. That's what I like a quarter of the year. So a quarter of the year, you're not going to do anything because life is busy.

And then we have, so imagine that you don't do anything for the summer and then you have, you know, mid August to mid November.

That's three months and then you stop again for another six weeks because life is busy. Do you see how it can become a very vicious cycle? So now is the time.

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to truly understand the mistakes they're hindering your long -term progress, not only now in the summer, but for the many months to come. Because I don't want us to be having, this is something that I tell everybody that I have a conversation with whenever they're struggling with their fitness. I don't want to be having this exact same conversation with you this time next year.

Absolutely do not want to be having this exact same conversation. So what are the biggest mistakes that you can avoid? Which I'm sure that you're probably making them right now and they are the num, the biggest response, the biggest hindrance for your progress. Number one is, and I, you're probably going to say this with me. So number one is wanting.

quick results like that, or nothing mentality. We've had, you know, January, everybody's like, woo, back to it. And then spring break comes and then things start to slow down and then life gets busy. And then there is work up busy and kids got sick. And the next thing you know, you completely forgot that you had to be, you know, that summer existed.

And then now is, so I don't know about where you are, but it legit feels like Satan's buck rack here in Texas. And you know, you start to show off more skin and you're wearing shorts and you're wearing, short sleeves and you're wearing a swimming suit and panic, panic starts to set in. And then the first thing that comes to mind is, I'm going to try the detox. I'm going to try that, that diet that is going to make me lose 15 pounds in two weeks.

And I promise you these over nothing mentality of the crash and burn and the quick results that you're wanting is going to keep you stuck. For ever. And I, and I'm, I'm someone that has a coach. I don't like absolutes. You're never going to hear me or, or read me speaking in any way.

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of absolute. So you're absolutely cannot do this. You absolutely cannot do that. that's absolutely no, I will never be the one that speaks in absolute. But one thing that I will speak in absolutes is that resorting to extremes because you have a vacation coming up or because you want to look X, Y, and Z in a swimming suit is going to backfire.

So, although I do understand that, you know, the best time to start working towards feeling more comfortable and confident in your skin, as we approach the summer was a couple months ago.

Going a crash and burn strategy right now, it's only going to negatively impact the moment that you come back from whatever vacation you have.

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And then August comes and you're going to be in a much worse place.

So do not resort to all or nothing extreme diet, extreme strategies just because you're feeling desperate. I know that is easier said than done, trust me, I know.

But this is speaking from 15 years of experience, not only as a coach, but personal experience as well. It is going to backfire. So, which then teased me up to...

My second point, which is a mistake that you're making that are definitely hindering your progress this summer, which is letting go of any kind of order or structure.

I don't know about you, but for me, dropping my kids off in school is a big piece of my day that gives the structure and gives me very specific deadlines as to when I need to be somewhere. And I need to be ready at this time to then drop them off and go to the gym or, you know, you know, so having absolute deadlines of where I need to be that I'm answering to someone else is not just for me because I'm, for example, self -employed.

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that allows me to keep more structure to my day. And many people, because things become a bit more chaotic and kids are not going to school and there is drop off in summer camps and sometimes summer camps earlier and then there is a vacation and then what's the point, they start to let go of any kind of order and structure.

The moment that you let go of order instruction, a structure on what makes you feel fulfilled, makes you feel happy, makes you feel in control of your own self, whenever you start to let that go.

That is what, so a lot of people, and I'm gonna go on a tangent here, so you're up for a ride, stay with me here. There is a lot of conversations that people lose confidence because of the way their body is looking. But from what I have been seeing with many of the ladies that we have worked with over the years, in fact, over 5 ,000, helped over 5 ,000 women, a pattern that I see

is that oftentimes the lack of confidence comes before the physical changes. And what I have seen that impacts in a negative way the confidence is whenever you promise yourself that you're gonna do something and you do not honor that, then you start to feel a bit like a failure, a bit like a fraud, a bit like...

I cannot even honor something for myself. I'm such, and then the self sabotage starts to set in. And because the self sabotage starts to set in, you stop showing up. And when you stop showing up and putting effort, what happens? You're going to start to put on weight. Your body's going to start to look and feel different. So do you see how it can definitely be a change in the order?

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A lot of people think that the lack of confidence comes from not looking or feeling a certain way. But what I have seen is that oftentimes the lack of confidence is what leads to the changes, the negative changes physically and emotionally and how you feel. So whenever you let go of any kind of order or structure that makes you feel somewhat in control of your day.

that is going to linger in a, sometimes it can be very challenging to get back on track whenever you like, go off the order and structure. So kind of tying the, the first mistake and the second mistake and how you can overcome that. So,

Make sure that you are honoring the things that are important to you and make you feel good in your body. Do you like training? Do you like working out? If you're listening to this podcast, chances are that you do. So you might not be able to do your regular routine of let's say an hour, four times a week. But what if you can do 30 minutes twice a week or 30 minutes, three times a week.

Would that be a good compromise? Because even honoring this something and doing something to make you feel better will give you some results. It might not be big results, but it will give you some results which might help you not want to resort to the all or nothing. Do you see how one and two are kind of coming together right now?

It does not, I'm give, if you need permission for something, I am giving you permission right now to not aim for perfection, especially during a time where there are so many variables, there are so many, you know, so many things that you need to keep.

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going and rolling and planning vacation and making sure that people are dropped off, making sure that you're picking people up. It's okay. It is not gonna be perfect. It's gonna be messy.

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But you need to maintain that structure. And I'm going to give an example of what that looks like for me.

The way that I keep the structure in my day is that my workouts are always going to happen in the morning. If I know that I have, for example, a doctor's appointment, I'll wake up a little bit earlier. That way I can get my workout in before I have to go to the doctor's appointment and drop the kids off in summer camp.

But I keep that level of structure where I know when things are going to happen. And in fact, I find that my workouts in the time that I dedicate to training is what gives a big part of the structure of my day.

So regardless of where I am, that structure is always there.

If I travel, you in the morning, I'm going to be working out. It might not be for, you know, the, the full hour that I normally train might be just 30 minutes. Should it might be fifth, 20 minutes, 15 minutes, but it's about not losing the momentum because the moment you feel defeated by the chaos of everything, that's when things start to go backwards and you know,

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to gain 50 pounds, he always starts with one. And I cannot begin to tell you how many women who used to be incredibly fit, who were like D1 college athletes, who were professional athletes, who did bodybuilding competitions, they come to us and they're like 50, 60, 70 pounds overweight because he always started with that one vacation or that one summer break that things got very busy. And next thing you know,

You know, they were buying sizes, clothing sizes that were five, five times their size. So 50 pounds, 20 pounds, 10 pounds, he always starts with that first one. And then the second one and then the third one. And it's easy to brush it off. it was just two. It's just one. It's just five, but yeah, five plus five is 10, 10 plus 10 is 20. So we want to make sure that we're not losing the momentum, doing what you can with the time that you have in maintaining that structure.

because the structure is gonna help you feel in control of your day, in control of yourself. And then the third mistake that is likely hindering your progress this summer is, and I kind of touched on it, is...

taking a break during the summer because it's busy. And this is something that I see all the time. We don't get this as much now. Actually, we haven't got it at all because I think our ladies have really grown to understand the importance of learning how to navigate when things are messy. Because one of the reasons why so many people fail on their fitness journey.

is because they are always waiting for the perfect, like smooth sailing. They are not preparing themselves to navigate whenever things get busy, whenever things get out of control. So whenever things do get out of control, they get completely derailed because they have a plan that is, can be extreme and it doesn't work for the life that they have. And if...

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All these stars are not aligned. There is no way they can stick with it. And then they keep on restarting all over again, over and over again, rinse and repeat. So we don't get a lot of our ladies asking to take a break or to pause or anything like that during the summer, because they do understand that in the summer is the time that they need a support and help the most. Anybody.

who is extra busy, who is traveling, who has children who are in camps.

You, the summer is the time that you need help and guidance the most. You might not see it, but that is the time that you need help the most. Because you're already thinking about everything for everybody else.

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What about you? How are you going to be able to take care of everybody else, everything else, if you're not taking care of you?

How are you going to learn to navigate the busyness of life next summer? Or whenever you have a deadline in a project or whenever there is an ill parent that might require more of your attention and things get out of control. How are you going to be able to navigate all of that if every single time that things get a little bit

rocky or more chaotic or you have less time for yourself, the first response is like, yep, and that's it, I'm going to quit. I'm going to take a break because a break is only going to keep you getting farther and farther away from your goals.

That's the only thing that is going to do.

Our most successful stories have been from ladies that he started working with us either right before the holiday season, right before Christmas and Thanksgiving, or right before summer.

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because they could always tell themselves that if they were able to succeed in such a busy season full of temptations in their lives, everything else was like, smooth sailing. So they looked at the challenges of the beginning of their journey as a blessing.

to keep on being consistent. And this is something that I see like in the conversations that I have on my social media all the time. It's like, I don't know if I can focus on that right now because it's busy. I don't know about you, man, but I've been a mom for eight years. It's about to be eight years in a couple of weeks. And I'm yet to remember one day that I woke up and I was like, you know what? Today is not busy. There is nothing going on.

There is no soccer game, there is no birthday party, there is no like fire should put out at work, there is no fire to put out in the family, there is like nothing, nothing happening. There is no grocery to be made, there is no dinner to be cooked, there is no lunch to be, I can't remember.

in my adult life, let alone my life as a parent.

So constantly waiting for that perfect, all these stars aligning and everything being perfectly smooth is going to keep on hindering your progress. but it's gonna be busy, I'm going on vacation. So I'm gonna take a break for the whole summer, or I'm not gonna start a fitness program for the whole summer because it's gonna be a waste. How is it gonna be a waste?

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How is it gonna be a waste? At the very least, let's say the worst case scenario, you get to the end of summer, end of the three months.

and you have gained two pounds.

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When in average you gain eight pounds during the summer, isn't two pounds better? Isn't maintaining your weight when normally, historically, during the summer or during the holiday season, you gain a significant amount of weight and then you have to resort to the extremes and over nothing in order to be able to lose that and then rinse and repeat. Wouldn't maintaining be better than that?

losing a couple pounds, three pounds, learning how to navigate, learning how to be okay with not being perfect all the time and still being able to be present with your family because you feel good, because you feel in control of yourself. That is priceless.

But As a society, we're constantly so obsessed with the idea of perfection that if I cannot be perfect, what is the point of even starting? Imagine, and I know that this is an overplayed analogy, but I'm gonna do it just because I'm a basic bitch. Imagine if a kid, he started to walk and was like, first time that the child starts to get up and walk, he falls. And then they're like, yep, that's it, nope.

This whole walking business, it ain't for me. Nope. Absolutely not. But why? because I can now work, walk perfectly right now. Then I'm just not going to try. I'm not even going to do it. Imagine if, you know, every sailor, every boat, every person who is a captain of a boat, I was just in a cruise. So that's kind of why the boat came to mind. They looked at the.

They looked at the map and the weather and they were like, you know what?

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Yeah, we're not, we're not even going to get in the boat. We're not even going to get in the boat because there is like, there is some rain there. No, they're taught to navigate with storm, with rain, with rough, rough seas.

It is just part of the process and you're never going to be able to maintain long -term success with your fitness if you don't put yourself in uncomfortable situations like learning how to navigate life whenever things are busy, whenever you're on vacation. yeah, taking a break is a lot easier. Easier now. What about in the long run?

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Letting go of ordering structure is a lot easier now.

But what about in the long run?

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wanting a quick result right now is easy. You might look, you know, feel a bit happier whenever you go on vacation, but then whenever you come back and you rebound, because you know that what you did was not sustainable, was not something that you could see yourself doing in the long run. How frustrating is it to feel like you have been losing the same 15, 20, 30 pounds over and over again for the past 10 years?

but it does not have to be this way. And that's why I'm sharing here the mistakes that you need to avoid because I feel like these mistakes are so ingrained, are so almost like socially acceptable that we feel like it's normal to just do that. And I'm telling you, that is the biggest mistake that you can keep on making if you're wanting to have success with your fitness in the long run.

If you're sick and tired of starting all over again, you need to stop feeling like you have to take a break every time that something happens. That you have to lose control of your day every time that all the stars don't align. That you have to go in a crash and burn every time that you don't feel like, you don't feel good. And you, you want that quick fix, that quick boost of, confidence.

But like we said, confidence comes more from honoring the things that you promised yourself that you were gonna do.

And then the way you look becomes a byproduct of that.

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and vice versa.

So if you, if you are on the fence about starting something right now, because you have a vacation coming up, I'm telling you, I don't care who it is with me, the next person, I don't give a shit. But now is the time you just need to make sure that whatever strategy you choose understands your lifestyle understands that you are not going to be able to be a hundred percent balls to the walls right out of the gate.

And that's another reason why I talk so much about my beef and my problems with the cookie cutter programs.

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Because cookie cutter programs, they are created for, you know, for the gram, for the before and after picture.

And don't get me wrong, love me a good before and after picture. Big fan. My jam. But I also want to see the picture after the after.

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Because that is true success.

I do I love seeing the, you know, the pictures from, you know, four week progress, six week progress, eight week progress, 100%. But I also want to see the two year progress, the year and a half progress, the two and a half year progress. Because what that tells me is that that plan is allowing you to live life.

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So whatever it is that you do and you choose to follow, make sure that it is something that is fitting in within your life and that the person that you're working with understands your needs. It's absolutely ludicrous. And this is something that I hear from a lot of fitness professionals like, my clients cannot drink wine at all. For example, because they suck if they do. I am sorry, but if I am, you know, in a cabin,

looking at these stars and having, you know, a great time with my family and friends. I am going to have the wine. Period. The end. Why? Because that's life. I am going to have these slice of cake in a birthday party with my kids if I want to. Why? Because that's life.

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And the more you keep on resorting to that, or nothing quick fix, the farther away you're going to be putting yourself from living.

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And like I said repeatedly.

Fitness is for life.

looking and taking care of your body is for life. Especially as I get more mature, if I can say so myself. Especially as I get more mature and I start to appreciate that it's also not just about how the body looks, although, listen, love me a good six pack and muscles popping out. But it's about understanding that I need a healthy and strong body to be able to age well.

to have quality of life, to not have somebody that needs to wipe my ass for me.

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And constantly being on that stop and start, stop and start taking breaks and all or nothing. It's not going to give me to that quality of life that I want to have when I'm 80 and hopefully still doing this podcast. Might have to change the name sassy granny's. How about that? All right, ladies. So this is, this is the conversation that I want to leave you thinking, today.

about the biggest fitness mistakes that are hindering your progress this summer. I have also created an incredible guide. I don't know if you know, but I have traveled to over 50 different countries and traveling is a big part of my family's lives. My personal life, I've traveled to many, many places, over 30 countries, just doing seminars. And I had to learn how to stay fit on the go.

So I put together a fit travel made easy guide, which is a compilation of 10 expert travel tips to stay lean while traveling. I'm going to drop the link in the, in the show notes. You can grab that and download it. It really is my own personal tips. Everything that you're seeing that there in this guide is what I do. And as a family, we travel every quarter at least.

A lot of these travels are international or are, you know, in a cruise where it's an all, all, all you can eat buffet everywhere. So.

or it's travels for work where I'm having to be up at X like very early in the morning and I'm having to accommodate my nutrition and my training to the schedule that somebody else is dictating for me if I'm doing a presentation somewhere. So this fit travel made easy guide is incredibly helpful. So you can get yours down in the show notes. The link is there and you can send me a message on the grams. If you have any questions, Natalia Mello fit.

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The link is down in the show notes as well. And if you have any feedback, please, the best way that you can contribute to this podcast and to me, if you find value in what I'm sharing here, share it with your friends. That's it. Just share if you find something that is valuable and you can help somebody share with your friends. And if you're a few, even more generous with your time, I'd love a review. I love me a good review. That's kind of what keeps this podcast on.

people's eyeballs. So if you could leave a review, I would love that too. In the meantime, I'll see you next week. Thank you so much for listening and thanks for our friends there here live with us today. I might make that a thing. I'm recording this podcast live with some people and I am really loving. I'm going to see if I can get a wave to see their questions. That would be super exciting. But anyway, I'll see you next week. Bye bye.