The Truth About Getting in Shape… And Why Most Women Quit Before It Gets Good

00:00Getting in shape is slow. Getting out of shape is fast. It like almost seems unfair that that happens, right? Like you work your butt off for months, you meal prep, you track, you drink your water, you get your workouts in. That is you building momentum. And it takes so much effort to do those things. And then literally two weeks of slipping off, two weeks of falling off, you know, the holidays, like maybe you're feeling that right now, boom, you feel softer, you feel puffier, you feel heavier, your digestion is off, your energy is off.

00:30Your energy is down, your clothes feel different, your sleep is different, your confidence drips. Like all of these things start to happen. What's going on, everybody? Hey, you guys, welcome back to another episode of The WarriorBabe Show. And as you guys know, on these episodes, we talk about mindset, methodologies and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong and feel insanely confident. I'm sure so many of you guys could probably recite that to that opening over and over and over again. But anyway, today's episode, episode number 319. Today, we're going to dive into talking about something that I believe every woman struggles with at some point in their journey, no matter what your age is, no matter what your goals are, no matter what, you know, your journey has been or hasn't been, whether you're just starting or you're in the middle or like you've been seasoned in this.

01:23At some point, women struggle with this. And that thing is, has nothing to do with macros, has nothing to do with motivation, has nothing to do with willpower, has nothing to do with working out. It has everything to do with momentum. And what I mean by that is, everybody wants it. But it's the one thing that I feel like most people don't know how to build on. And even fewer know even how to protect it. So this episode was actually inspired by I think it was yesterday, two days ago, I can't remember, when on Instagram posted a just simple carousel for short slides. And this thing almost went viral. And it hit it was like a it was a quote graphic, well, I'm going to expand upon each slide, each photo in today's episode.

02:16But it literally like I had women DMing me, I had women commenting on it, I wouldn't be like, do this is facts, like, it hits some women in the gut. And I wanted to just bring into the episode and bring it to a podcast and just talk through it a little bit more. Like, what I feel like from that reaction is, women are exhausted from falling off track. They're exhausted from starting over. They're exhausted from feeling like working out and fitness is like always just slipping through their fingers the second that life gets busy or life gets stressful.

02:46So I'm taking these graphics, I'm going to break them wide open. I'm going to talk about each of them because each one of them holds a truth that can literally change the way that you approach your health forever. Like, no fluff, no like, real talk, real truth, real identity shifts here in this episode today, guys. So let's just start with the first graphic, because honestly, this one alone could be like a full episode in of itself. But that graphic was getting it said getting in shape is slow, getting out of shape is fast. And I feel like it's like a, the women, the reactions that I got from women was like, Oh, yes, but like, there's also a second reaction that I feel like may be happening as well, like a deeper one.

03:32And that one's like frustration, because it like almost seems unfair that that happens, right? Like you work your butt off for months, you meal prep, you track, you drink your water, you get your workouts in, you go to bed earlier, you say no to the things, you change your routines, you that is you building momentum. Okay, and it takes so much effort to do those things. And then literally, two weeks of slipping off two weeks of falling off, you know, the holidays, like maybe you're a

04:02feeling that right now, you feel softer, you feel softer, you feel heavier, your digestion is off, your energy is down, your clothes feel different, your sleep is different, your confidence drips, like all of these things start to happen. I'm here to tell you something that will free you. If you let it if you are open minded to letting it, listen, you don't lose your results first, what happens is in this moment, you are losing your standards, the body is simply the last place that your choices show up, right? Like, like, what you really lose first is you lose your routines, you lose your structure, you lose your boundaries, you lose your consistency, you lose the promises that you're keeping to yourself. You lose the decisions that you made when you were clear and grounded, right? Getting out of shape, or feeling what you're feeling now happens fast, because the drifting is easy. You don't need effort to drift, you don't need intention to drift, you don't need commitment to drift, you just need

05:01to stop paying attention. And that's it. And the reason getting in shape is slow is because it requires intention, it requires you to put effort in every single day, for longer than your brain even wants to give it, it requires you to be committed on a daily basis, it requires you to show up when it's boring, it requires you to show up when it's inconvenient, it requires you to show up when nobody is even noticing. It requires you to show up when you know, it requires you to show up when you know, it requires you to show up when your emotions want to quit. It requires you to show up long enough for your for like the habits that you're instilling to catch up, right? That's why the slow part matters. Because what is happening in the slow part is a slow part builds your identity, the slow part builds discipline, the slow part builds self trust.

05:57Like, it builds the woman that you're trying to become. So fast will never build that. Fast will only tear it down. So if you are in a pro in a season where progress maybe feels slow, good. And I know a lot of you guys are so used to wanting fast results and doing things that are going to guarantee you x amount of results in four weeks and yada, yada, yada. But I'm here to obviously be straight and direct with you guys, that that is only going to set you up for failure in the long run. It's not going to build all of these things of what I just said, it's not going to help you build discipline, it's not going to help you build self trust, not going to help you build belief. And it's just going to help you to repeat the same cycles of what you've been repeating and the same patterns of what you've been repeating.

06:41So if you feel like progress is slow right now, it's slow for a reason. Slow means that you are building. Slow means that you are laying down the foundations. Slow means that you are developing patience, you are developing resilience. It means that the results that you are developing resilience. It means that you are developing resilience. It means that the results that you get will stay even when life gets chaotic, inconvenient and busy. Because, and I'm sure you guys know this, fast results, they come and they go. But when you focus on building slowly and you allow the slowness to be enjoyable, those results stay.

07:19So that encompasses my little rant on getting in shape is slow. Yes. Getting out of shape is very, very fast. But think about why that happens. And think about how you can maybe embrace going into the new year, especially, I'm okay with a slow season. That's why you guys I recommend, okay, if you're starting on January 1st, dude, you got five, six months until the summertime. That is an idealistic timeframe. Rather than some of you guys that will be coming in April, you'll be good in January, but you'll fall off the tracks February and March and come April. And I say this because I want you all to prove me wrong.

08:04But you'll come April and you'll have two months before you can get in shape and you're going to look for the fast results. Don't let you just please change your patterns going into 2026. All right. Okay, quick break. If you're finding this episode helpful so far, it would mean a lot if you could hit pause for just a second, leave a quick rating or a review or share it with someone who could benefit from it. Your support helps more women discover these tools to build muscle, lose fat and feel confident. Thank you so much for being a part of this journey with me.

08:37The second graphic was almost the one that went, uh, that went, uh, that went the most viral, not almost, it went the most viral because this is the real truth behind why women struggle. Fitness is not a physical battle. It is an emotional battle that shows up physically. So let me just break that down here for a second. 10% exercise because the gym is not the hard part. Truly workouts are the easiest part known to anybody. I just had a conversation with someone from last weekend and they were like, do I work out so hard all the time? I'm not seeing the results.

09:15Workouts workouts are the easiest part. 10% is exercise because the gym is not the hardest part. You show up, you move your body, you leave. It's structured for some of you guys. It's directed. It's contained. Gym is not your enemy for some of you guys, right? Like your emotions before and after the gym are, are, you know, that's where the real fight comes into play. That's the mainly the biggest thing. The emotions before, like, do I even want to go? I don't feel like going. The emotions afterwards are like, dang, I feel really good, right? Like those are the, those are the hardest parts about getting your workout in.

09:51Anybody can get their workout in, whether it's going for a run, whether it's going for to the gym, whether it's going for a class that you signed up for. Show up, move your body, you leave. Okay. 50% of this is nutrition because food is where your identity patterns show up. And these are the things that were in the slide too, as well. Most women don't have a nutritional problem. They have an emotional eating problem. They have a stress eating problem. They have a comfort eating problem.

10:22They have a reward myself with food pattern. They have an I'm overwhelmed. So screw it pattern. This is where, this is how food reveals your, your coping mechanisms. Nutrition is very easy on paper. It's very easy on paper, but a human navigating cravings when you're tired, when you're anxious, when you're lonely, when you're overwhelmed, or when you're frustrated, that is where the real work begins. And then 40% is managing your emotions. And this is what a lot of people were like, oh, that hit so hard.

10:57That is the invisible battle. This is a part that nobody teaches. This is a part that no program includes. This is a part that determines whether you follow through or you fall off from the program, right? Everything you do with your body is influenced by what you feel emotionally. Your doubt, your fear, your insecurity, your guilt, your impatience, your frustration, the stress that you have, the exhaustion. Like if you don't know how to regulate those emotions, you will always sabotage the physical work.

11:35And I've heard so many women say like, I know what to do. I just don't know. I just don't do it. And yeah, that's because the real barrier isn't knowledge. It's not education. It's not more reading on the Google or chat GBT-ing. What it is, is it's emotional resilience. Once you learn how to pause before reacting, how to breathe instead of binging, how to rest instead of thinking that I'm quitting, or I'm not, I should be working out.

12:07How to respond intentionally instead of self-sabotaging, how to allow yourself to feel discomfort without like being afraid from it and running away from it. Once you learn how to recognize those things, do your results become predictable at that point? And at that point, when it becomes predictable, results feel like freedom. You won't allow, like, you won't allow yourself to be influenced by how you feel emotionally. And this is what I mean by like, I've said it a million times before, and sometimes people were like, that's so harsh, Nikki.

12:40But you know what? Like, it's true. If you can recognize that you are feeling a type of way, you are feeling stressed, or you're feeling exhausted, or you're feeling frustration or whatever. I think every single person feels something like that on a daily basis, right? We're all tired, okay? But like, you're not going to allow that emotion to get in the way of one, quitting and giving up. Okay, I'm going to just rest today.

13:11Or if you don't need a rest day, and you're just like feeling the emotion, but like, you know you can go work out. It's like leaning into the discipline of, okay, whatever. I'm not going to be tempted by these emotions that I'm feeling. I'm still going to go show up no matter what, despite these temptations, and follow through. And the same goes with like guilt, like guilt around like, okay, like I ate too much of the holidays, and I haven't been working out in the last week. Okay, whatever. I'm not going to allow that emotion to get in the way that the rest of the three weeks that I show up, or two weeks that I show up for this year.

13:44I'm still going to, despite the temptation of feeling guilty, make some type of change today that will put me back in the driver's seat and become resilient and disciplined to follow through for the end of the year. You get what I'm saying? Once you learn how to do that, dude, results are predictable because you're putting in the effort at that point, and you're still following through no matter what, no matter how you feel. And once you can grasp that, that truly becomes freedom because you're going to acknowledge and recognize and like, you can empathize with the emotions you're feeling. Like, I'm not saying to just like, cut them off, know that they're there, but still act, you know, despite them.

14:21Because they're always going to be there. So, okay, and then the last, or the third one, there's four of them, I think. This one is like the identity shift that women resist the most. And that graphic said that when you stop treating fitness like a phase and you start treating it like a lifestyle, results stop becoming stressful and start becoming inevitable. Because the second that you treat fitness like a phase, you will always feel behind. You will always feel stressed.

14:51You always feel like you're, you're just, you're trying. You always feel like that you're starting over because a phase ends. A lifestyle doesn't end. Women who treat fitness like a phase, they negotiate every single decision. They rationalize inconsistency. They justify slipping up. They have an excuse for everything. They operate from emotion. From what I was just saying with those examples I said a couple minutes ago. And they expect fast results. And they rely on having motivation every single day. You could be one of those few things that I just said, or you could be all of them.

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16:35You can be, don't let me just say, oh, but don't be like, oh, but I don't rely on motivation. It doesn't matter. You can be one of those other things that I said. And you're treating it like a phase. You're treating it like it's just another program that you're a part of. Women who treat fitness like a lifestyle, we don't negotiate non-negotiables. We don't disappear when life gets inconvenient or chaotic or busy and out of control. We don't need perfect conditions. I don't need, if I know I'm being realistic with myself that I can only get in three workouts a week as opposed to the five, I'm showing up for the three.

17:07I don't need perfect. I don't need to be like, perfect is five workouts. No. And I don't rely, we don't rely on motivation. Okay, we've been down that road of struggling with the, with the feeling of frustration and exhaustion and guilt and X, Y, and Z. And like, you know, 99% of the reason why follow through results happen is because screw motivation. I don't rely on it. I'm disciplined enough to follow through. Right. And we don't rely, we don't collapse. Um, when thing, when things get really, really hard, really, really uncomfortable.

17:42A woman who focuses on this as a lifestyle doesn't ask, how do I stay motivated? It's not even what she would ask. It's like the follow through strategy is just different. It's like, okay, what am I non-negotiable today? And what do I need to get done today before I deal with everything else? A phase woman that was talking about that, that person's like, I'm going to, I'm going to restart on Monday. A lifestyle person, a woman is like, all right, cool. I slept up for breakfast, but I'm going to get right back on track right after this meal.

18:15The phase woman is going to chase results. The lifestyle woman is going to chase being in alignment with her fitness goals, which is going to make her in alignment with everything else in her life. Because the alignment aspect will always produce results. And then this last side is one of my favorites because it reminds you that health is not a punishment. Food is fuel. Sleep is healing. Breath is power. Nature is therapy. Rest is productive. Movement is medicine. Health is how you return to yourself.

18:47So I want to break down each of those. Food is fuel. Food is not the enemy. Food is how your muscles grow. Food is how your hormones stabilize. Food is how your brain focuses. Food is how your mood improves. Your body is not fighting food. It's begging for the right kind. When it comes to sleep, your sleep is a very big healing component. Sleep shouldn't be optional. Sleep shouldn't be like, yeah, I only get five hours of sleep. Dude, sleep is where fat burning increases. Muscle repair happens. Cortisol lowers.

19:18Restoration is increased. Hunger hormones stabilize. Emotional regulation resets. And your ability to like wake up just charged and ready to go happens. And you, the thing is, is like you can't outwork sleep deprivation. Like you need to get good quality, efficient sleep on a regular basis. Or all what I just said is going to be opposite of what I said. Fat burning decreases. Cortisol elevates.

19:50Muscle repair takes slower to happen. You are going to feel irritable, tired, and angry the next day. Okay? Breath. You're breathing. Dude, your breath. You taking like a, like if I was just taking a breath right now. Everyone take a breath. Your breath is basically telling your brain, hey, we're safe. We're good. Your breath turns off your fight or flight. Your breath stabilizes. It increases your patience. It stabilizes your, your, your cravings.

20:22It just, it grounds you when you feel like emotions are getting elevated and they're about to spike. Some people will say breath work is spiritual. Breath work does X, Y, and Z. No. Look, listen. Breath work is physiological. It is something that naturally can calm you down in whatever situation you feel like is being elevated or, or, or causing charge. Literally. How do you feel right now after taking that breath? I feel great. Uh, the other thing was nature's therapy.

20:53So walking outside, getting sun on your face, like a quiet moment in fresh air. And I know it's probably hard to do because it's absolutely so cold right now. The other morning it was 16 degrees and I don't want to complain because I'm sure people are experiencing even colder. But to me, that is very cold. And I know it's probably hard to get outside and enjoy that coldness, but try to because that can lower your cortisol. That can reduce your anxiety. It can just boost your mood. It increases your dopamine. Nature can literally fix what like overstimulation will break.

21:24Um, the other thing was rest. Rest is productive. Rest is not weakness. Rest is strategy. You make better choices when you are rested. You train harder when you are recovered. You regulate your emotions way more easily. You show up more consistency. Consistently, dude, rest is a part of the discipline to develop. You being okay with taking a break. That is strategy.

21:55And then the other last thing on that slide was movement. Movement is medicine. Movement changes your biology. It improves your metabolism. It improves your hormones. It strengthens your heart and your mind. It's not punishment for what you ate. It's a celebration of what your body can do. It's how I want you guys to think about it. The truth behind all of these graphics, the message that I want you guys to feel the most in like your bones right now is getting into shape is an emotional, mental, spiritual, and a physical process.

22:27Falling out of shape is simply the absence of that process. Getting into shape and staying in shape requires you to develop discipline, patience, self-awareness. There's that word again, guys. Awareness, emotional regulation, identity shifts, pattern breaking, the changing of the narrative in your mind, consistency, being honest with yourself, taking responsibility. Falling out of shape requires nothing. Just drifting. Drifting away from that. But I want you guys to not drift away from that, especially going into 2026.

23:01Like don't drift. You're awake now. You're aware. You're choosing. You're more intentional. And you're becoming a woman that is so powerful and just makes these standards non-negotiables, right? And like a two, because I feel like a lot of women have been driven this way. And that's a narrative that's in their minds. Like I just want to break it. Fitness is not about looking good. Fitness is about becoming someone that you're so proud of. Literally, fitness is like the foundation. It can catapult you into so many amazing other things once you just like show for yourself.

23:32Do these things I'm talking about. Say honor yourself. Follow through. Keep the promises you make to yourself. Build momentum instead of waiting for it. Build it. Don't wait for it. Don't quit on yourself just because life gets hard. Guess what? Things are going to happen in January and February and March. Things are going to get hard. You know what's going to be the biggest transformation? Even when things get hard, follow through. That's it. Don't quit. Just follow through even when it's hard. Even if it's not perfect. It doesn't need to be perfect. All right? Because what like progress is progress.

24:03Flow is progress. Consistency is still consistency. Every rep matters. Every step matters. Every walk outside matters. Every walk on the treadmill matters. Every track day with your nutrition matters. Every small decision adds up. It adds up to a big, big, big identity shift. A you shift. All right? So show up today. Follow through. Make it happen. And I hope that this episode spoke to you guys in ways that it just needed to. If it did, screenshot it.

24:34Tag me on Instagram. At Nikki Stott. At The WarriorBabe Show. I would love to see just the light bulbs or the things that you needed to hear. Like recap a sentence of what stuck out to you guys the most. All right? I love you guys. I'm proud of you guys. Let's finish this year strong. All right. Bye. Real quick. If this episode resonated with you or gave you the push that you needed, I'd love for you to pay it forward. Drop a quick rating and review. Share the podcast with someone who might need it. And help me keep spreading the word.

25:04Your feedback not only helps the show grow, but it might just be the nudge someone else needs to kickstart their transformation. Thank you so, so, so much for your support. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.