How to Get Back on Track With Your Fitness Goals

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Every second, every minute is a new chance to move closer to your goals. So it's not about being perfect. It's about progress. So whether you've been crushing it so far or you're struggling to get started, this is the opportunity to refocus and reframe and recommit and move forward.

What's going on, you guys? Welcome to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkiey Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. On this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I'm your host, Nikkiey Stott, and welcome to today's episode, episode number 225.

Today, guys, I want to give you a little bit of what personal coaching would look like if you were working directly with me. We are on week two of the new year. So I want to help you take inventory of where you are in relation to the goals that you set for yourself, because this is where things start to get real. There's the initial excitement of setting resolutions or goals, and you've already done that, but this is where it starts to wear off. And now it's about how you're showing up when that hype fades, when the first week of the new year is done and out. And you realize and recognize that, oh, life is happening. The time that I set for my goals in the first week, it's hard to keep that up moving into the second week. And that's where you then go into, I don't have enough time.

So if you've been sticking to your goals, that's amazing. Because I know some of you guys are listening to this and you're like, I'm on week two, I'm crushing it, I'm going into week three. That's awesome. I'm here to cheer you on and help you keep that momentum going. So there's going to be a bucket of the podcast for you guys on that.

But if you've already started to slip, or maybe you haven't even started... I was at church this past week and the pastor was like, I didn't start on January 1st. I'm going to start on February 1st. And if I don't keep my commitment on February 1st, I'm going to start on March 1st. Maybe that's you. Maybe you haven't even started. I'm here to give you some tough love, because it's not too late to turn things around. You don't have to be like what my pastor said, I'm going to start on February 1st or March 1st. There's no perfect time. The time is right now. We're going to talk about that.

So I want you to take inventory of where you are. I want you to celebrate the wins. And I also want you to have some actual takeaways that will refocus or reignite your commitment. I hope this podcast is coming at the perfect time for some of you who, again, maybe are in that second bucket of starting to slip up, or you're in the excuses of I don't have enough time, or you took on more than you could chew. You were like, I'm going to change 100 things, when really you should focus on maybe one or two things. I hope this is going to serve you in some way that will help you, after this podcast, have some newfound focus and reignite the commitment you set for yourself.

So first, I want you to take inventory of where you are. Whether you do this now or later, just pause for a moment today and get really honest with yourself. Really honest with yourself, you guys, because if you can show the truth for you and in you, and you can be honest with these questions I'm going to ask you, that's a huge first step to, one, having self-awareness, and then knowing how you need to execute after that. So just be really, really honest with yourself.

The first question I want to ask you is: did I set clear, specific goals for the new year? Pause, reflect, be honest with yourself.

The second question I would ask you is: have I been consistent in taking action towards those goals? Pause, ask yourself that question. Be honest with yourself.

And the last one I would ask you is: am I seeing progress? Not just physically, because it's two weeks into the new year and some of you won't see that, but maybe mentally, maybe emotionally. Are you seeing progress or non-scale victories?

If the answer is yes, I am giving you a huge high five virtually. Good job. Because seriously, staying consistent is one of the hardest things to do. It's no small feat and you should be super proud of yourself for that. This is where progress happens, when you keep showing up even when it's hard.

Because for some of you, like I said a couple minutes ago, you crush it your first week, but then your second week you recognize that the time you allotted for your goals in the first week isn't matching up for the second week. Well, you just have to get a little bit more strategic with your time and really look at your calendar and be like, hey, when can I commit to getting my workout in? And set that on your calendar, or however you take inventory of your days and plan your days.

So if that is you and you said yes to all of those, that you did set specific goals, that you have been consistent, and that you are seeing progress, and it doesn't have to be physical, it can be mental or emotional, then virtual high five. Cheering you on. Super proud of you, and you should be proud of yourself. Keep that going, because that will carry you. Like I've said in previous podcasts, that's a compound effect. It's not necessarily about the outcome you're going after. It's how you're showing up day after day after day, consistently compounding the daily actions that will get you to the outcomes. It's systems over goals, right?

If your answer is no, or if you're thinking, I haven't been consistent, that's okay too. This is your opportunity. I want you to give yourself grace in that, because if you're anything like me... I'm learning that if I don't do something right, it's a part of my perfectionist mentality. And I'm going to talk to you about that. It's funny, because I have dealt with not being consistent in my own ways with fitness and nutrition, and now I'm dealing with it in other ways in my life. But it's funny how you recognize that how you do one thing is how you do everything. And even though I've worked through that with nutrition and working out, it's about giving yourself grace: okay, here this is popping up again, and this is a level and opportunity of growth that I can seize now, right?

So it's the same thing here. If you haven't been consistent, that's okay. Give yourself grace. Do not beat yourself up. Do not say that you are a failure. Do not reject yourself. Do not go on a spiral down a rabbit hole and find yourself all the way at the bottom where you can't see the top. I say that because I know, and I've been in your shoes. This is your opportunity to get back on track. The worst thing you can do is what I just said: beat yourself up or throw in the towel.

So I want you to reframe this as a chance to refocus and to recommit. Because what's done is done. You can't do anything about yesterday. You can't do anything about two days ago. You can't do anything about five days ago. If you haven't been consistent, that's okay. You can't change any of that. What you can do is reframe your mindset right now and focus on recommitting and moving forward now. Today. Right now.

Don't wait till Monday. Don't wait till February 1st. Don't wait until March 1st. There's no perfect time. The time is right now. Maybe you woke up this morning before listening to the podcast and you didn't get your workout in. Do you have time later in the day? Can you move things around? Because it's literally a snap of a finger. You have the control to change how you navigate the rest of the day. It's up to you. It's your choice.

You can continue to wallow in the mindset of beating yourself up and waiting till Monday. Or you can literally change that in the snap of a finger and be like, okay, I'm just going to recommit, refocus. I have the rest of the day to make good nutritional choices. And maybe if I can't get my workout in, I can at least focus on getting 10K steps in. It's that easy. It's literally that easy. You guys just complicate it and get in your head and get too far. And I can say that because I've been there. And I'm saying that with love, because I want you to recognize and bring self-awareness to this truth: you can change things in a matter of seconds.

Here's the deal. Every day, every second, every minute is a new chance to move closer to your goals. So it's not about being perfect. It's about progress. So whether you've been crushing it so far or you're struggling to get started, this is the opportunity to refocus and reframe and recommit and move forward. Again, a matter of seconds. You have the choice to literally do that right now.

I want to dive into perfectionism a little bit, because I can resonate with you on those feelings: beating yourself up and spiraling and losing control and saying, I'm not good enough, I'm never going to get to where I want to be with my body composition goals or my fitness goals because I keep fucking up. I hear you so loud and clear. And you feel like, again, you're not enough, or you're rejecting yourself, or whatever spiral of emotions you may be feeling. I'm here to say that I hear you and I understand that.

And you may be thinking, I've messed up, so what's the point? Or maybe you've had an off day. Or maybe you're treating it like, today I had an off day for half of the day, so fuck it for the rest of the day. Been there, done that. Maybe you're treating it like it's the end of the world. I don't know. We all have our different emotional roller coasters. Here's the truth. Perfection isn't the goal. Progress is. Perfection isn't the goal. Progress is.

You guys just heard me having a conversation with Kansas, and how I can bring that level of conversation into fitness is this: when you start something new and you're trying to create growth and change your way of being, you're battling your old self and your new self. You're battling your old self's habits, thought processes, behaviors, things like what I'm talking about right now. And then you want to act differently.

She shared that 3D picture, if you listened to that podcast. Basically it's a picture where, if you look at it sideways, you can see a face coming out. I'm probably going to butcher this, because I'm trying to put it the way she framed it. But in my own words, there's you right now. There's a future you. But there's also the you that has had all these thoughts, beliefs and feelings and all the things around nutrition and fitness and working out. And you have to try and catch up to that future you. What I'm trying to say is, you have the vision of where you want to go, but your body has to catch up to it.

And so you're going to experience a whole lot of mess. It's going to be messy. There are going to be days when you don't get your workout in. But hey, can I focus on 10K steps? There are going to be days at the beginning of a journey, when you're trying to change things, when you slip up on hitting all of your macros or you slip up on eating healthy. Instead of beating yourself up, it's like, cool, okay, this is messy. I'm taking messy action. I don't know if you've ever heard of that, but it applies here in fitness. People take messy action when they quit their job and find another job that's more aligned with where they want to be. There's an in-between period of getting rid of old ways of being and trying to keep up with new ways of being. Does that make sense?

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So what I'm trying to say is, you don't have to be perfect in your journey. You don't have to beat yourself up. You don't have to spiral into a rabbit hole. You don't have to reject yourself. You don't have to tell yourself you're a failure or feel like a failure because you're not perfect. That isn't the goal. Progress is the goal.

The way I look at it, you can look at today, or you can look at the bigger picture of things: am I showing up here in the first two weeks of the new year differently than I've shown up before? Maybe the last two weeks of 2024, or a month ago, or two months ago. If you're showing up differently than you were then, that's progress. It doesn't matter the actions you're taking, especially if you're new to this and you're learning how to eat better, eliminating things you used to eat and bringing in new things. I'm basically trying to summarize all of that, and I know you get what I'm saying. You don't have to be perfect, and you can love the mess of the transition period you're in to make this a consistent lifestyle habit for yourself. Just focus on making progress every single day.

Think of it like this. If you're working towards your goal 80 to 90 percent of the time and you're still making progress, one missed workout or one indulgent meal doesn't undo everything you've worked for. What matters is what you do next. Do you let it spiral into a week of giving up, or do you bounce back and keep moving forward? Because a setback isn't a failure. It's just a lesson. So take the lesson, adjust, and then keep going.

So that's how I would summarize it: giving yourself grace, enjoying the mess, and recognizing that if you are not where you want to be, it's not a failure. It's just a lesson, and you can take that lesson, adjust, and keep going.

But I also want to lean in and give a little bit of tough love for those who might need to hear it, because I can be that way with you and be empathetic. Tough love is also empathetic. But there are the ones who need to hear the empathy, and then there are the ones who just want straight talk, given to them as bluntly as I possibly can. And that's what I meant at the beginning of this episode about how I would coach you and how I coach individuals: who is the human I'm working with, and how do they receive feedback? Typically, either someone needs a cheerleader and the empathy side of things, or someone is like, no, Nikkiey, I just need tough love, straight to it. Tell me what it is. And a lot of you love that. A lot of the feedback I get from you is that you love my tough love. So let me give you a little bit of tough love for those who might need to hear this side of it.

If you've been making excuses, if you are still waiting for the perfect time to start, if you're telling yourself, I'll start next week, here's the hard truth. There's no perfect time. The time is right now. You don't need the stars to align to start working towards your goals. You don't need everything to feel easy or convenient. What you need is discipline. You need the willingness to show up for yourself even when you don't feel like it.

So if you're waiting for February 1st, thinking, I'll have the motivation then, or if I don't have it February 1st, maybe I'll have the motivation March 1st, you're going to be waiting a long freaking time. Motivation is fleeting. It is an emotion. It ebbs and flows. You could wake up on February 1st and feel not motivated at all, and there you go, now you're pushing it out to March 1st. There is no perfect time to start. The time is right now.

In order to be successful along your journey, you have to blend in what I said on the empathy side of things. Give yourself grace. Don't beat yourself up, because you won't achieve anything in that negative spiral. What you can focus on is recognizing it, taking it for what it is, adjusting, and continuing to go. And then building discipline that will keep you going.

Because discipline isn't about being perfect either. It's about doing the work even when it's hard and trusting that the results are going to follow. Nowhere in this is being perfect, because we're not perfect. But can you show up even when it's hard? You don't need to give it 100 percent. You can give it your 80 percent. That's better than 0 percent. And trust that.

The way I look at it, I attribute 99.9 percent of my success to discipline. I'm not always motivated, but I am disciplined. It's basically me showing up when the temptation is there for me to just cave. It's ignoring that temptation of caving and still showing up regardless. In workout terms, that means, okay, I told myself I would be going to the gym at 3 o'clock in the afternoon today. Or maybe for you it's 5 a.m. 2:30 rolls around. I don't feel like going. I have no motivation to go. That's an emotion. But I know that I will act despite how I feel.

And that's where some of you wake up at 5 a.m. and go to the gym at 6 a.m. It's not my jam, but I can understand that for some of you, you want to hit the snooze button. You don't feel like getting up. That's the only time of day you can do it. You don't feel motivated. It's hard. Well, those are all emotions.

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Discipline will make you act despite how you feel, because you get up and do the work even when it's hard. And you know that if you keep doing that, the results are going to follow. So that's a little bit of how I'll give it to you straight. If you're still making excuses, if you're waiting for the perfect time, or you're saying, I don't have enough time, or you're telling yourself, I'm not motivated this week, maybe I'll start next week: there's no perfect time. Just start right now. It's Friday. Go tomorrow. Can't go tomorrow? Go Sunday. You don't have to wait till Monday. And then you just have to compound that over time.

All right. So now that we've taken inventory of where you are and had our tough love moment, let's get practical. Whether you've been consistent or you need to reset, I want you to have some actionable steps to keep your momentum going.

What I will always tell individuals I've coached in the past, in a moment like where we are right now, is to take the time to revisit why you're doing this. Why are you doing this? Why did I set this goal in the first place? What's the deeper reason I want this? When your why is tied to something meaningful, and I've talked about this in two or three episodes before, like feeling strong, confident, healthy for your kids, waking up every single day with energy. Maybe you have a diagnosis of a health condition, and with eating better and working out, it could be less severe. There are so many deeper layers. Maybe you want to feel confident in your own skin, so you feel it when you're having sexy time with your husband, or anything along those lines that goes a little deeper. Maybe you want to rewrite the story you grew up with with your mom. You don't want diet culture to continue on with the generations after you, and so you want to rewrite that for your daughter.

Whatever it is, you have a why for why you started this. Revisit that. And then have it somewhere you can see it every day. Because when you have the why, it's not about, oh, I want to lose 10 pounds, anymore. It's, I want to achieve this goal because I want to keep up with my grandkids, right?

The second thing I would say is set micro goals. With big goals, like people who say I'm going to lose 100 pounds, or I'm going to change 10 things in the new year, it's very overwhelming, and it will make you feel overwhelmed. So break them down into smaller, more actionable steps. Instead of saying I'm going to lose 100 pounds, focus on, okay, I'm just going to hit my protein every day this week and get my 10K steps in. Or I'm going to hit my protein and calories, maybe not even focusing on all the macros, and I'm going to get three workouts in this week. You're breaking it down into smaller, actionable steps rather than saying, I want to lose 20 pounds. Cool. What's the plan to do that?

That way it doesn't feel so overwhelming, because with I want to lose 20 pounds, you could spiral. You can go in many different directions. I want to lose 20 pounds, so it means I need to start keto. Or I want to lose 20 pounds, so I need to throw everything out of my pantry. Nah. If you have small wins you can focus on on a weekly basis, that's going to help you build momentum. And that momentum is going to fuel your progress moving forward.

Another thing I would say: one of the biggest reasons people fall off track is a lack of preparation. Planning ahead. What's that saying? Fail to plan, plan to fail. And that is so true. Fail to plan, plan to fail. One of the biggest reasons people fall off track is lack of preparation.

Take 10 minutes to plan your week. I do this every Sunday. I schedule my workouts like they are appointments on my calendar. I plan my meals or my snacks so I'm not scrambling day to day inside MyFitnessPal. And I identify potential obstacles in my week ahead and with my time, and I create solutions ahead of time.

If you take anything away from this podcast today, that is what I want you to take away: planning ahead. Because I firmly believe that if you do that, you will be successful in the goals you're going after. It's one of the biggest reasons people fall off track.

Let me say it again. The way I do it is on Sunday, 10 to 15 minutes. Schedule your workouts like appointments on your calendar, whether you do it digitally or write them down in an agenda. Plan your meals inside MyFitnessPal. I've seen so many WarriorBabes plan their entire week inside MyFitnessPal, and they can adjust as they go. Typically I do it day to day now. But especially at the beginning of a journey, it's one of the most brilliant things I have ever seen. And to this day, I still have some clients I work with who do that too. They plan every single day of the week, and they can make adjustments. They go out with their husband and they're planning a different dinner. They're still planning.

And then the last thing, which I think is really important, because every week is different for everybody: you're going to look at your time blocks, or whatever responsibilities you have with kids, family, what plans you have, work. So you're identifying potential obstacles. You're looking at them on your calendar, and you're going to create solutions ahead of time. If there's a potential obstacle at a time when you would normally work out, you're going to move your workout to a different time of the day, and you're going to do that ahead of time. So you know that when you wake up on Thursday, you have your whole plan set for the day. When you plan, you take control instead of letting life take control of you.

Those are the three main things I would give you as actionable items to walk away with. Revisit your why. Set small goals: if you have the goal of I want to lose 50 pounds, break that down. What does that look like on a weekly and daily basis? Because it doesn't matter about the outcome. It matters how you get to that outcome, which requires you to look at your systems and processes on a daily basis. And then the last thing, which is one of the biggest things I say, is planning ahead.

All right? So I'm going to leave you with this. You are capable of doing hard things. Whether you've been consistent or you need to get back on track, you have the power to make progress starting right now. It's not about waiting for the perfect moment. It's about showing up for yourself one day at a time. And if you're anything like me, remember, it's not about perfection. It's about persistence. It's about loving the mess of the journey you are in right now, trying to get rid of old habits and implementing new ones. It's going to be messy, and that's okay. Give yourself grace. The results will come if you stay the course. Just know how to adjust when you need to. Pay attention to the lessons that need to be learned. And keep moving forward.

You've got this. I know you do. And I believe in you guys. I know you're capable of doing this. It's just about you making the choice, messy and uncomfortable and all, to recommit, refocus, and get back on track.

All right, guys? I appreciate you tuning in today. I hope this episode gave you the encouragement or tough love you needed. And if it did, I would ask that you share this with someone who could use a little kick in the butt to get them moving and grooving too. Love you guys. I'll see you in the next episode. Peace out.

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