CHANGE YOUR LIFE: Jumpstart a Healthy Lifestyle Today

Hello my friends! I am here to fill your toolbox with everything you need to start your health journey today! 

Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction 🎙️
02:18 - What’s Been Happening in My Week 📅
05:45 - Segment 1: Overcoming Excuses and Seeking Professional Help 🚀
09:30 - Segment 2: The Trifecta - Mind, Body, Spirit 🧘‍♀️🏋️‍♂️🙏
15:12 - Segment 3: Embracing Slow and Steady Progress 🐢
18:45 - Roadmap to Starting Your Healthy Lifestyle 🗺️
21:30 - Conclusion and Teaser for the Next Episode 🎉
22:45 - Outro and Closing Remarks 🎧🤝

Description:
Welcome to the "Get Out of Your Own Way" podcast! In this episode, host Sam DeSalvo dives deep into how you can transform your life through a healthy lifestyle. Tune in to explore the intersection of wellness, motivation, productivity, healthy living, and business. Connect with Sam on Instagram 📸 @samdesalvo and discover more content on TikTok 🎵🕺, Spotify 🎶🎧, Pinterest 📌📌, and beyond.

Links:

• Q&A: https://www.eastcoastcreativemedia.com/getoutofyourownwaypodcast
• Connect with Sam: Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, Pinterest, Linktree, Amazon Storefront

Disclaimer:
This video is not sponsored. Some links are affiliate links, which means Sam may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no additional cost to you. This helps support the channel and its content creation efforts. Thank you for your support!

Don't miss out on transformative insights! Subscribe now and be part of the journey. Thanks for tuning in to the "Get Out of Your Own Way" podcast! 🎙️🌟

Transcript

0:08

Hello, my friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Get Out of Your Own Way podcast. I'm so glad you guys are here. How are we doing today? I hope we're doing good. On this podcast, we talk all things wellness, including motivation, productivity, healthy living, and business. So today's topic, we're going to be talking about how to jumpstart a healthy lifestyle. And I feel like it kind of goes with the episode last week about motivation. A lot of the topics in this are interchangeable with last week's topic about motivation, but I'm going to. Specifically be talking about healthy living and how you can really get going in that lifestyle. So like I said, a lot of the stuff from last week applies to today. So I will probably be referencing that. But along with that, I'm going to give you guys some tangible tips. And even at the end, I'm going to give you guys a roadmap on the exact steps you can take if you're feeling so incredibly lost. I'm recording from a different location today. I'm recording from my bed. Which I just wanted to be comfy, chill. I usually sit at my desk and record and have like a full setup and I Usually have it on camera so I can get mini clips for social media, but I just wasn't feeling that this week I haven't done camera and Like podcast in a while just because it is a whole extra layer of work It literally brings my work from like a 5 to a 10 difficulty and it drives me absolutely nuts It takes so much longer for everything to upload and edit and oh my gosh Can you tell that I literally dread doing the video portion of it? But I know the video portion's good for marketing it and posting it on social media. It really is a catch 22 I'm just chilling in my bed right now recording this episode. I have had a pretty good week I've spent a lot of time listening to like worship music and journaling and just doing a lot of self reflection with this week Which has been really nice. It's been a little bit more of a chill week at work So i've taken the opportunity to dive into that stuff just a little bit more And I am also reading this book right now that I'm really into. It's called The Seven Year Slip, and it's just like a romance novel, but a little bit of like sci fi. I don't know. It's about like time travel. So I don't know what category that really falls into. And it's really good. It's the first book in a long time that I'm like, I don't want to finish this book. It's so good. Like, I'm just savoring it. I don't want to read too much at once. Is that stupid? I don't know. But I am literally just like savoring it. I probably only have about. 50 pages left in it. RIP. You guys have book recommendations? Let me know. You guys have book clubs that we could be part of? Let me know. Should we start a book club? What do you think? I think it could be fun. I've read a lot of like Colleen Hoover books in the past and I love reading those but Kind of wanted to switch it up this time. This is the book that I went for and it's been really good so looking for recommendations for what you guys got for books and After this podcast recording, I am going to cook up some lunch. I'm going to make some hibachi on the Blackstone. So I'm cooking up the rice right now. It's probably going to be done by the time I'm done recording this podcast. And then I'm going to go and make like some chicken fried rice on the Blackstone. Does that sound so good? And what else? This week I went swimming again, which was really fun. I haven't been swimming, like, doing like lap swims in a pool in a couple months. I went with a friend this week and it was really fun. It was nice to go with somebody and it wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be. But I will tell you what swimming exhausts me like no other workout. Like my whole body is just depleted from head to toe. I am so exhausted after I go swimming. It's just really like a full body workout and it takes every part of me, like takes every bit of me out and. It is such a good workout though. It's like totally different than other workouts I do i'm gonna try to keep going more often And yeah, that's kind of what's happening in my life right now but let's jump into today's episode. today's topic is how to Jumpstart a healthy lifestyle and change your life if you are looking to live a more healthy lifestyle and you know the things that you should be doing But you just have a really hard time Getting going and you're like, okay. Everyone else makes this look easy or it looks like a life. I would want to live I just can't get there for the life of me I want to give you guys tangible tips that you can take with you that I think help have helped me help me and Like I said at the end of today's episode I'm even gonna give you a road map to start here and walk through these steps If you are completely lost. The first tip that I have for this topic is to ask yourself truthfully, what are your reasons or excuses and what is actually stopping you from taking care of yourself in the way that you know that you should be. So recognizing what are your roadblocks right off the bat. Looking at your life and you're like, okay, I know I want to exercise and I know I want to eat healthy and get better sleep and have healthy habits. What is actually getting in my way? And I want you to stop with and stop and sit with yourself for a minute and figure out what it is. Is it Is it a medical issue that actually prevents you from working out? Do you not have the resources to eat healthy and do not maybe have the funds to eat healthy? Things like that. Like I want you to stop and sit with yourself for a second and figure out are the reasons that I feel I get stuck on my fitness and wellness journey. Are they Excuses or are they legitimate reasons and then if you recognize that they are excuses you need to truthfully ask yourself how much do I want this and Sometimes it takes people hating, hating where they are to be able to change. So they need to hate how they look, or they need to hate how they feel. And they're like, I need to do something about my life. Sometimes it takes you getting to rock bottom to say, okay, I need to switch my life around. So maybe you just don't hate it enough yet, and that's why you've never made a change. And that's something to ask yourself. But. If you're like, no, I don't want to get to the point where I actually have to hate myself. Like I can get going from where I'm at right now. I don't like where I'm at enough now that I know I want to change. You need to sit with yourself and ask, what are the reasons I cannot get going on this journey? And if you discover that they aren't excuses, they are legitimate reasons, then I encourage you to get professional help. So you can get out of the point that you are stuck in and you can seek. Professional help for these challenges. So this might range for you. This could start at a chiropractor. If you have something wrong with your, your spine and you have pain in your body that you're looking to get rid of so that you could exercise. You, this could be getting a mental health counselor so you can remove some of those roadblocks. roadblocks to get you going. So finding professionals in the areas that you're like, no, these are legitimate reasons and not excuses. And I need help. Go get that help. And then we can get going on this journey. Let's get working on these things so that we will be one step in the right direction. So getting help in these areas are the health, fitness mental health. So finding a nutritionist, a dietitian, a fitness trainer. If you feel like I don't know how to work out in a gym, Starting with a fitness trainer is a great option. And then, like I said, mental health counseling or a doctor if it's a medical issue. Because sometimes it does take hiring somebody who is a little bit further ahead of you in this journey and who can hold you accountable to get going on this. This journey, but I think if you just keep these walls up and you keep telling yourself I can't do these things because X, Y, and Z, you're never going to get going and you're going to be so upset further down the road that you didn't start sooner. So I really encourage you guys to analyze your situation, analyze if these are excuses that you are... using to not start your journey or if these are legitimate reasons and can you get help from them so you can get going and get better and start feeling better. Those are the things that I want you to consider. Now moving on to number two, I, I think, okay, I didn't make this up, that's for sure, but I like to call this the trifecta and I want you to just pick one to start with. So again, if you don't even know where to start with your fitness journey, I'm talking to the people that. They want to start living a healthy lifestyle. They want to have a wellness journey, but they don't know where to start, where to begin. And I just feel overwhelmed by the amount of information out there. I get it. And I want you to just pick one of these to get started with. So the trifecta in my head is mind, body, spirit. So obviously we have our mind and our thoughts, our brain, and then we have our body our body is our muscles, our figure, our vehicle for getting around day to day life. And then we have our spirit, and our spirit is connected to a higher power. And I'm going to use God because that is what I believe in. So our spirit that is connected to God, and we also have the Holy Spirit that lives within us and is our best buddy that helps us through life. So mind, body, spirit. I want you to start with one of these and I want you to start with the one that seems the most tempting and the easiest for you. And then the others will follow. And it's funny because you will notice for some odd reason, a lot of athletes also follow the Lord. I've learned that as I keep the discipline of heading to the gym or going out for a jog, I'm rewarded with a happier spirit and an increased. In my energy. So like a lot of athletes I see they'll, they'll have a Bible verse in their Instagram bio or they will say like Jesus lover, the Instagram bio. And I, I always found that very interesting because there has to be a connection there for some reason. And. I think it's because when we start feeling better in our bodies, we are more open minded and we are more connected to a higher power. And also when you start getting working on your body and you start going on this journey of how amazing the human body is, what makes up our makeup, you tend to think this creation is so perfect that God had to make this like man could not have made everything work together so perfectly and. I think when you go on this journey, you start to learn a lot about the human body, and those thoughts tend to come to mind. So, like I said, just picking one of the three, mind, body, or spirit, and start working on one of those. And the others will start to work with it. For example, when I am exercising, my mood always changes. Your body releases endorphins, and you are... Having more joyful thoughts and you are more open to Working on yourself on a deeper level and connecting with your body and connecting with your spirit So wherever you're at in this journey, I really encourage you to just pick the one that seems the easiest for you right now So whether that be working on your mind going to counseling and getting out of your negative thought patterns Working on your body heading to the gym Going for walks, going for jogs, doing things that you love to do with your body, and then, or working on your spirit. So going to church, going into the Word, spending time with God, whatever that looks like for you. I just encourage you to just pick one if you don't know where to start and you're overwhelmed, just pick one, and then the rest will follow. And going back on the exercise point, I just think it has an interesting way of clearing cobwebs in my brain and helping me to hold my focus on what really matters in life. So you kind of, when you start working on your body and you release those endorphins, you really start to open your mind up. And I know I've already said this a couple times, but it just wakes me up a little bit more and it helps me Be more alert, be more happy and joyful everyday life and I'm able to have the energy to read the Bible, meditate, whatever that might look like for you. And then like on the opposite side of this, if you start working, on your mental first. When you're feeling good mentally, you're more excited about life and you're willing to go and move your body. So they kind of all play off of each other. And I hope this is making sense because I don't think there is research on this. I didn't look anything up. I have had this thought for a while. And for me, My journey started with physical. So I started moving my body first. So, mine went body, mind, spirit. That's the order mine went in. I started working on my body, started moving my body. Then I started working on my mind, starting getting my mind right, and working on positive thoughts in my brain, and getting rid of the negative patterns. And then spirit came last. So once I had those other two, I was open to the idea of God and walking with God and knowing that I didn't want to do this life alone and that the other two things that are That I had been working on my body and my mind, I just knew there had to be something bigger and larger than life. Like there had to be something larger than all of this. And also that I didn't want to do any of this alone. So working on my mental health and struggles and challenges and pitfalls that came up, like I didn't want to do this alone. So it just really opens your mind up to the possibilities of a higher power. And that the other things might come a little bit easier than you had expected. So moving right along. Another tip I have for starting a healthy lifestyle, how to jumpstart a healthy lifestyle, is slow and steady. So just pick one habit. Again, this kind of goes with the point that I just just talked about of picking one thing, but breaking it down even further than that. Just pick one habit and be consistent with that one thing telling ourselves that we can do the things that we say we are going to do, that we hold ourselves accountable. We show up for this one thing. Just start with one. Cause when we overwhelm ourselves, like saying that we're going to start eating healthy, drinking water, going to sleep and not be on social media and this and that, and that. We're just like, this is impossible to keep up with. Like you just changed your life. You 360'd your life overnight. Like you're not going to be able to keep that up for a while. You're going to end up going back to your default. So I encourage you to just pick one habit and stick with that for a long time. And it will be easier in time to add habits on top of this habit or also known as habit stacking because. At this point, now that we've had this one habit that we've worked on for a while, we will have the mentality that we don't give up easily, that we do the things that we say we're going to do. And we become that person. We become a determined person. We become an accountable person, a consistent person. So whatever habit that again, looks like for you and go back to the trifecta of mind, body, spirit, pick which thing you want to work on. Find a habit that would. Supplement this new lifestyle for you and just work on that for 21 days. It takes 21 days to build a habit and it takes, I believe it's 63 days for a habit to be instilled in your brain. So 21 days to actually create that habit and it'll start to come natural. And then after 63 days, you won't really have to think about it anymore. And then after that, you know, you can start building habits and making building blocks in your life that makes sense for you. With slow and steady, like this is a lifestyle for you now. It's not a fad diet you're going on. It's not something that you are doing just for a little while. So I want you to know that it's okay to mess up. It is okay to backslide, and I want you to think that instead of thinking that you messed up, or a lot of people will have the mentality that. Oh, I messed up. There's no point in keep going. Or I'll get back on it next week. Or, well, I fell off now. Let's just go crazy. And that is not building a healthy lifestyle. That is building That is just setting yourself up for failure because there shouldn't have an end date on it or there's no going back to a different lifestyle, there's no going, well, I fell off now, might as well not keep going, like, that doesn't make sense if you're trying to actually build a lifestyle. I want you to think about how far you've come and how much it would suck to start over again. Like, if you go out and you eat something bad one night, It's okay. It was one bad meal. That is not going to set you completely off from hitting all your goals. It will set you off your goals if you continue saying like, oh, I had, you know, something really bad to eat that night and I'm just going to keep going tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day. Yes, that will. Set you off your fitness journey, but what won't is if you go out and you have a meal that wasn't perfectly in lined It's okay. We get back on it tomorrow morning We get back on it as soon as possible in that you just get back to what you were doing You do it the same day. So say if you messed up in the morning Don't wait till the next day to start over eat your next meal Have it be healthy or if it was like the end of the day thing start that next day don't give yourself a timeline that I'm going to start on Monday because then That keeps getting pushed back and then you just never get back on or it takes you a while And now you're even further down this road of misery that you have to pull yourself out of so slow and steady And then giving yourself grace if you quote unquote mess up you didn't mess up It was just a one time meal that you had or you know, you enjoyed yourself and then we start again tomorrow This is your lifestyle now. It's not a fad diet. It's not a yo yo diet. So be patient And over time, too, you will learn so much. When you first get started, it can seem overwhelming, but if you just take it slow and steady, and you start learning as you go, you start learning from your mistakes, and what you should and shouldn't be eating, what works well with your body, what doesn't, you're going to learn so much. And over time, you can't get, like, rid of that knowledge. So it's just gonna come so naturally to you that you know what you should be eating and what you should be doing. progressively learning over time is also going to help you. Once you embark on this journey, your knowledge does just keep growing. And You will be shocked in a short amount of time how much you have learned and how much you've grown from where you were. For me, I started my fitness journey in high school. And I started, you know, going to Planet Fitness along with playing sports in high school. And at the time, like, I'm still learning how to use equipment, reps, sets, all this stuff. I would never have thought that I would have competed or been doing CrossFit. doing CrossFit competitions. It took time to get there. It took me, you know, starting at the basics and learning how to use some machines and how to use a barbell, how to load a barbell, learning my body, learning the different like pieces of my body along with fueling my body with nutrition. And then over time. I started to want to challenge myself a little bit more, so learning about something new and then heading in that direction until I can look back now and say like, wow, I've like done a lot and I've learned a lot, but at the beginning, I didn't just jump all the way here. I took the steps slow and steady to learn all these different pieces. Like when I first started in high school, I was doing beach body with my mom. And we would do the at home workouts. So you start learning about that and then you do portion control and you also do low carb pretty much because you, they give you these containers and you pack your food in them. So they say like carbs is in one of these containers, which is obviously the smallest one because you're on this like diet. So you start to learn like about those kinds of things and about nutrition at the most basic level. And then over time. You like kind of grow out of that and then you're tracking macros. So you're learning all about macronutrients micronutrients and how to count your carbs how to look at a nutrition label properly and then from there, you know, you're experimenting with other things like bikini competitions and weightlifting and bodybuilding and then You're trying to put on muscle mass. Like there, it really is just a whole journey that you will embark on. And along the way, you will learn so much about so many different things. And you'll have this toolbox that will help you during this healthy life. Like you'll, you'll be able to say, understand why you need to get eight hours of sleep, what. sleep does for you at night because you start to learn about these things and you get curious about these things or what does this supplement do and what's missing in my body that I would need this supplement for. So you start to learn about the human body a little bit more. So like I said, guys, it really all plays off of each other. It's just taking that first step and that first step is going to be different for everybody. I just encourage you to take the step that seems the least daunting to you and be patient with yourself, giving yourself grace. Because we are human and we're going to take the path of least resistance, or we're naturally going to want to take the path of least resistance. So if you could set yourself up that way, you're setting yourself up for success. So if you know that the easiest place for me to start would be working on my mental health instead of working out or, you know, working on my faith, those two things just seem, Like a huge mountain. I'm not ready to climb yet. And you start on your mental health and then you start learning about your mental health and about endorphins and serotonin and the different hormones that play a role in our bodies. And then we are more interested in working out and we're more interested in a higher power. I think it's super important that we set ourself up for success and we take it slow and steady and we turn it into a lifestyle and not just a fad diet. So I hope you guys found that helpful and if that wasn't enough for you to get started, I'm going to give you a straight up blunt road map that you could take with you today to get started. The first step in the roadmap to starting a healthy lifestyle is to select a goal. Choose a goal that is the best fit for you. It may not be the first goal you feel like you should be choosing, but you're much more likely to succeed if you set your priorities that are compelling to you and feel attainable at present. That's kind of what I was just. Saying about the trifecta, pick the one that seems the easiest for you and you will set yourself up for success. The second thing is to ask yourself a big question. Do I have a big dream that pairs with my goal? A big dream for you could be running a marathon or climbing a mountain. Wiggling back in the clothes that used to fit you. Maybe cutting down on some medications that you don't want to be on anymore. Or maybe being able to play with your children. And something to keep in mind is if you cannot articulate a big dream, Don't get hung up on this step. You can still succeed in moving forward towards your goal through other approaches. I think it's important to have your big why. Maybe you don't have a goal right now, but you have your why, and it's just to feel better, to look better, to... Be happier to be healthier. Like those are your reasons that you need to. And then once you get going on this journey, you will find out what your goals are. Like I said, when I was on my journey, I didn't know that I wanted to compete at that time. That came down the road once I was already in the thick of it. I think when I got started, my, my big goal was to fit into a prom dress at the time. If somebody let me borrow a prom dress and I did not fit into it. And it's like, well, My parents aren't going to buy me one, so I have to fit in this and it's pretty. Oh, you know, you bet your bottom dollar I worked my butt off to get into that. So like that was my big goal at the time. But then over time I have gotten new goals that I work towards. So running 5k's, kini competitions, crossfit competitions, triathlon sprints, whatever. Like they come down the line. You learn as these things as you go. And moving on, the third thing is to pick your choice for change. So kind of just went over this, what is your why, but select a choice that feels like a sure bet. Do you want to eat healthier, stick to exercise, diet more effectively? Ease stress. It's best to just concentrate on one choice at a time. When a certain change fits into your life comfortably, then you can focus on your next change. I feel like I've touched on that so much today, so I'm just going to move right along. To number four is commit to yourself. Make a written or verbal promise to yourself and one or two supporters, somebody to hold you accountable that you don't want to let down. That will encourage you to keep going when it gets tough. And be explicit on why this change matters to you. If it's a step towards a bigger goal, include that too. For example, I'm making a commitment to myself by planning to take a mindful walk two days a week. This is my first step to a bigger goal. Doing a stress reducing activity every single day and it helps me meet another goal getting a half hour of exercise every single day And I want to do this because I will sleep better It'll improve my mood and then I'll be more patient with my family and my friends and it will ease the stress in my life So you can see how that's like a really good mission statement something to get you going and you know You're wise in there Like, you know, you want to show up better for people in your life or the partners in your life and you want to be less stressed Healthier Moving on to number five is to scout out easy obstacles Maybe you would love to try meditating but you can't imagine having the time to do it or maybe you want to eat healthier but your house is full of junk food or you live in a place that you always have bad food around and you don't have a lot of healthy options. And then moving on to number six is to brainstorm the way to get over these obstacles. So again, asking yourself, are these excuses or these actual reasons? And if they're just excuses slash obstacles, okay, now let's think about how we can overcome these roadblocks. So you don't have enough time to meditate. Okay. I'll get up 20 minutes earlier for exercise and do my meditation or I can fit my exercise in on my lunch break. And then as for healthy options in the kitchen, maybe talking with your significant other and saying this means a lot to me I'm going to be shopping like this for myself, but I can still include your foods that you want to eat and There are plenty of ways if it's a financial reason there are plenty of resources of how to eat healthy on a budget Frozen foods is a big one frozen vegetables. Buying from farmers markets things like that. So looking up the resources that you need to be able to have Healthy foods in your house. And then the last one for this road map is to plan a simple reward So we are human and we love Positive reinforcement. We like to be awarded or rewarded with something if we do something Well that kind of goes back to childhood when we get a gold star for doing something great so even as adults we want to Have the mentality that we will reward ourselves if we do something good and for example, this might be if you hit all your macros that week or you Hit your weight loss goal or you did your habit every single day that week maybe you will treat yourself to something at the store that you've been really wanting or To a spa day, or maybe if what you were trying to kick was smoking, and now you reward yourself with all the money you would have saved on smoking to buying something that you've really wanted. I would encourage you to try to steer clear of food rewards, because that can be counterproductive to what you're aiming for. For myself, I like to reward myself with sneakers. I have some different sneakers saved on my Pinterest board that if I do my goals for that week or if I hit my macros every single day that week and lose a certain amount of weight, then I get to reward myself. So I even have a reward system and I've been doing this journey for many years now, but still finding little pleasures along the way have, it helps. It makes it a little bit more exciting. I hope you guys found this episode helpful. I understand it was probably a little bit redundant to last week's episode with motivation, but I just wanted to give you some tools in your toolbox that you can start your fitness journey with and that these help you get going. And if you did find this helpful, please reach out to me on Instagram. I've actually got a lot of compliments lately about this podcast and just how great it is and people just saying really nice things. So I appreciate that in the love goes much further than you think it does. So if you enjoy this podcast and you found today's episode helpful, please reach out to me on Instagram at Sam DeSalvo, S A M D E S A L V O. And I would love to connect with you guys and don't forget to share this episode. You never know who you could be helping by sharing the episode with somebody else. And I will talk to you guys next time. Thank you so much. Bye!