It’s always hard to see someone struggle so much with their weight and their lack of health goals. It’s sad but true: the majority of people will start on the health journey, but few will continue on for a lifetime…

As trainers, we get frustrated with the stop-and-go mentality of many clients, and we feel lost as we watch our poor clients swirl around in guilt, self-loathing, and disappointment.

I have the answer. It’s what many a coach and motivational speaker has recognized as the simple but true path to staying with anything: pain versus pleasure.

See here’s the deal: if you see dieting or losing weight as painful, if going to a gym makes you feel yucky, if the thought of having to live in denial of certain foods makes you cringe, well, that would be enough to keep even the most positive of people away from partaking in a healthy lifestyle!

But what if you re-framed it? What if you saw it not as painful, but as pleasurable! What if, every time, you completed your training and made mental notes of how your body was changing, and use this as fuel to propel you onward?

What if, when picking up your Starbuck’s coffee, you silently said no! to all those lovely pastries sitting pretty and sweet under glass…to  shift you away from a painful experience (denial of sweets, oh my!) to a pleasureable experience (growing your inner conviction and faith in yourself, and keeping the calories out!) 

I always say healthy and wellness is an inside job. Those who get on track and stay there have learned to find the pleasurable parts of the journey, and build on those. Changing a mindset never happens overnight, but with diligence, it does happen. Trust me. I used to think like you, and I used to be overweight, tired, and I felt guilty all the time! Now, if I falter, I channel into those old, sad feelings of lack of control and self-loathing, feelings I never, ever want to feel again. Instead, I now make a conscious decision to move toward feeling the pleasure in owning a fit, lean body, something I want to feel for life! That’s what keeps me on track!

Choose pleasure over pain: reframe how you think and feel about things. Focus on the pleasure in saying no to the pastries display, rather than the pain of not having it. When you start making this mind-shift, you are heading down a very cool, and health-affirming path indeed! 

karen

PS – We take a look at this, and so much more, in my upcoming 10 Week and 12 Week Challenges, starting in just 4 weeks! Videos, workout cards, nutrition and lifestyle plans, weekly tele-coaching calls with me! Ask me anything, join the group, and come join us on the Challenge! Sign up has begun! Only 20 seats! YOU DESERVE IT!

“Karen, I can’t tell you how amazing I feel and how much my life has changed 🙂 I’ve lost 12lbs and gained habits that I will have forever! Thank you so much for all your support, you’re an inspiration!” – Kurstie Somner

“I have been meaning to drop you a note to let you know how much you have inspired me…you have (and the challenge) has made an amazing difference in how I feel, both mentally and physically….and I’m sure I will only get better!   I am surprised at the comments I have got (especially about my arms)…even by a couple different women in Mexico…and my husband loves my firm butt!” – Darynn Cowan, Victoria BC

I’m dumb-struck that summer is coming to a close! Yikes!

So this is a friendly reminder that sign up for the 10-Week Best Shape Challenge and the 12-Week Advanced Best Shape Challenge is happening NOW! (Please note those in the Advanced MUST have completed the 10-Week Challenge).

(Many McCoy members / followers wanted me to let them know first, before I put it out to the masses, so here you go!)

I only take on 20 girls per Challenge, so I can give you my undivided attention! You deserve it, and I deliver! But the registration closes September 5th and the  Challenges start Sept 10th! So HURRY!

Ladies, do yourselves a favour and get your lovely butts in line for the Challenge…it truly is my favourite thing to teach! And we’ve seen A LOT of success stories from it!

Come join us! You deserve it! But hurry…the September ones always fill FAST! 

And check out these former Challenger Graduates….they all started with just wanting to get in better shape and joined the Challenge…and look where they are now! CLICK HERE!

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING….

“I have LOVED every part of the challenge.  I am proud that I have completed it and stuck it out! I LOVE how I feel, I am STRONG! I am a little warrior!  I AM ME!” – Misti Miller, Florida

“I have been weight training since I was 15 years old. I forgot how to push myself until Karen reminded me. Now I’m enjoying the heavy weights again and all the pretty muscles that go with them.” – Kristeen Gordon, Alberta

Mark Twain said: “Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.” Thank-you for inspiring us to be great Karen!” – Susan Lees, Victoria, BC

“I HIGHLY recommend The 10 week Best Shape of Your Life Challenge. Karen has put together a program that is like no other…and trust me, I’ve tried every diet/fitness plan out there! She truly made me excited to check my email every Sunday night, which goes to show how Karen manages to make clean eating and working out both interesting and fun! If you simply do what Karen says, you will see results and feel great, both physically and mentally…and she will be there cheering for you throughout your journey.  Thank you Karen! Though you are very true in saying that the 10 weeks “is not just about building the perfect bicep”… mine are looking pretty darn good after your challenge! :)” – Chloe Robinson, Victoria, BC

I love watching the Olympics. It always makes me cry!

What is astounding to me is the dedication these athletes have for their craft. Most of them train 6 days a week, 5 hours a day for years, just a chance to be the best at their chosen field. (And here I am trying to convince some gals to train minimum 3 times a week …and even that’s a tough sell sometimes!)

Now I know what you’re going to say: these athletes don’t have to work, and they have most things tended to for them.

No and no. Read their stories, you’ll see. Most of them are the you’s and me’s living on the same street. They work, play, get injured, over-eat, but they have an incredible inner burning desire to achieve the highest level of performance with their precious bodies. 

What does it come down to? It’s simple, really.

The main thrust: You have to want it really, really bad. You have to have an unending focus that carries you for years. You don’t make excuses, and you see time as precious, almost your foe. You ahve to see food as fuel, and time as finite. Age is something you work against, and you know that yesterday’s training is adding into the pool of potential today…and on it goes.

As I train for my own little Figure competition this fall, I’m doing my own mini version of an Olympics…I train 60-90 minutes a day on weights, always re-assessing, always trying to do one better. I do 1-2 hours of cardio. I measure and weigh all my food. I pay strict attention to supplements, and I try to keep my stress to a minimum. I pose, I walk, I flex, and I envision the stage, the lights, the crowd, every night. And my eating is exceptional. Really exceptional. I have to manage injuries, over-training, immune system lulls, and hormone fluctuations. All the while, I run a full-time training business, I tend to my special needs son, my hubby, my 4 animals and my acre-homestead. 

It’s all about what you want, and what you’re willing to do to get it. You have to learn to compromise on certain things  – like making time to train or not having that glass of wine at night – to ensure you can get there, and to make yourself proud. I think what makes me acutely aware of it all is my son who has no use of his arms and legs, and my own experience of living in a body that was immersed in pain for years, and I could find no way out for a very long time. It makes you appreciate things more.

I gotta go…my favourite part of the Olympics is on, when we see the winners on the podium, and their faces just light up like candles as their names are called one by one…

It always makes me cry!

Karen

Sports Supplements Seminar: Want to know what kind of Sports Supplements you should be taking? Join me at Lifestyles Select in Sidney, BC on Tuesday,  July 31st from 5:30-6:30 for Women and Sports Supplements: What we need and why! Handouts included! $10 fee. RSVP to karen@mccoyfitness.ca! Only 10 seats!

Last week, I lectured to a group of at-risk youth from the Spectrum Youth Project / Job Search Program in Victoria, BC (pictured below)

WIth this group, I always teach the importance of clean eating first and foremost (exercise can wait…for now), but many are resistant to giving anything up. But at the end of 2 days of lecturing, the message remains: you’ve gotta give something up to get something else… you’ve gotta learn to compromise with your eating. 

Participants always lament whenI say cheese is fattening, late night eating is a no-no, you gotta watch the carbs, and oh, that alcohol adds up…somewhere. “But I love cheese…I love my beer…I can’t live without sandwiches….”. The choice is always there, but if we don’t change something up, then nothing can shift.

Life is all about choices. It’s also in how you look at things. Lean people make compromises all the time…painful at first, but eventually these become a new eating lifestyle, and this newer version takes over. Then the results follow: more energy, nicer fitting clothes, and these rewards far outweigh what you had to give up. 

Life is a compromise…you can’t spend your entire paycheck on designer clothes every week or you couldn’t pay your rent or mortgage, right? It’s the same with food: determine what you want, then make just one compromise and see how it goes.

Start somewhere. View compromise as a trade-off to a healthy life. Pretty soon the compromise will be a distant memory and you will see it as simply the best thing you ever did. But remember the golden rule: If you keep doing what you’re doing, you get what you get: you will look and feel the way you do now. But if you change it up, compromise on something, let something go, then you’ll shift toward being lean, energized, and healthy for life!

It’s really as simple as that!

Karen

Sports Supplements Seminar: Want to know what kind of Sports Supplements you should be taking? Join me at Lifestyles Select in Sidney, BC on Tuesday,  July 31st from 5:30-6:30 for Women and Sports Supplements: What we need and why! Handouts included! $10 fee. RSVP to karen@mccoyfitness.ca! Only 10 seats!

Yesterday, my son and I walked into town for our daily excursion, a 6 km walk. Along the way, we met a lady out walking. “Good for you,” she said, “Walking is my chosen exercise, I do it every day.” Hmmm…I thought.

Then just last week, I saw a former training client at lunch, and he announced that he had found the perfect exercise regime for him: walking. “I try to do about 7 km a day,” he said. “No more gym stuff for me.”

I recall another lady that was quizzing me about the need for formal training. “I get enough exercise chasing after my grandkids,” she said. “I don’t need anything more.” Yes you do. Really, think about it.

See here’s the thing (and I’ll probably get tons of emails for this….), walking is not exercise. Walking, in my books, is an activity. Exercise is when we train our bodies in a structured environment to attain a higher level of fitness and health. Activity, is, well, the other stuff that we’re supposed to do on a regular basis, like, well, walking.

See here’s the rub: when we look at walking as something out of the ordinary, then we’re saying that the norm is to be sedentary, when in fact, walking (and moving in general) is supposed to be the norm. And other things, like cutting the lawn, power washing or spring cleaning…these too are norms, things we are supposed to do in our daily lives.

Yes, I think walking is very worthwhile, and I do it every day with my dog (good thing about having a dog!), but I don’t factor that into my daily exercise regime. After our 6 km walk, I still did my 30 minutes of high impact cardio, then a 45 minute gym routine. Now I know not everyone is into physique training like me, but you don’t have to be. I always say, change your thinking, change your body…and your life. 

See you on the walking path!

Karen

PS – NEW CLASS!: I’m teaching a NEW Women on Weights class at PAK Fitness (formerly the Bodybarn). This class, and my regular Lift n’ Lose at Panorama are the only 2 group classes I’m teaching in 2012, limited seats, so sign up soon! September is closer than you think! CLICK HERE!

In Buddhism, they say the root of all suffering is attachment.

I had created an attachment to Tristan’s future. I had believed that my son would live a ‘normal’ life, but with his living now with a degenerative disease, I have to alter my expectations of his life, his future. I have to let go of all the things we often take for granted and replace them with a new reality, a new normal….

I ask myself several important questions – “What if we were all wheelchair-bound by 12 years old? What if we all lived no longer than 21 years of age? How would ‘normal’ look then?” Through asking these questions, I am starting to experience a break from traditional thought. I am beginning to see with fresh eyes. I am beginning to recreate a different vision for Tristan’s future, but fear and sadness engulf me.

This letting go process continues to be a long, hard lesson. I want to hold on tight, to control the outcome and to make it right, the way it’s supposed to be. But I know that with every little bit of letting go, it frees up room at the other end for something else, something better, to move in.

But I cannot let go. I’m afraid to let go……

Excerpt from One Rep at a Time: An athlete and mother reveals the secrets to creating inner power and serenity.

 Available on Amazon.com and at Tanners, Munro Books, Russel Books and Bolen. Includes the 8-week BLISS Body Makeover Program FREE.  

When I take on a new client, I always ask what their goals are. Usually it’s the same thing: to lose weight and look and feel better. While I write down what they’re saying, more importantly, I’m making mental notes about how they’re sitting and other subtle clues, because I’ve learned that a person’s story is written in their bodies. Usually the subtle physical cues tell another story, a deeper story about self.

Ask yourself this: what do you really feel about exercise and clean eating? A lot of us would rather hit the snooze button, or bite into a warm cinnamon bun: the thought of training just looks like another to-do item in an already busy day. Is this true for you, or is this what you have come to believe is true for you?

Have you ever said one of the following?

– I hate to exercise.
– I’ve tried to lose weight before and it’s never worked.
– I don’t have the time.
– I don’t have the genetics.
– She was born with that body.
– I don’t have the money.

These are just stories you tell yourself, and you need to ask why…..can you turn it around? How can we dismember our old beliefs and update our Belief Map?

I’ve got a few tried and true tools I’ve used for years with my clients, but I first had to learn them myself. My life was full of excuses and roadblocks, but I honestly didn’t see them as that. But the truth was there, in the 30-40 extra pounds I carried!…

Excerpt from One Rep at a Time, available on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and at local bookstores on Vancouver Island. Includes the 8-week BLISS Body Makeover Program FREE (videos, workout cards, how to find your working weight, living in tune with the day and seasonal cycles, clean eating tips and recipes and more!) It’s the perfect summer training program! Full email support from Karen with purchase!

OK, I’ve had it with all the ‘before and after’ photos…I say we shift our focus and use a different approach.

I’m all for seeing women lose the excess weight, but in my view, we’ve become obsessed with before and after photos. I say we need to see more before and way-later photos…

See, I’ll probably be lambasted for saying this, but it’s easy to lose the weight: It’s usually harder to keep it off and continue to transform our bodies…

Yeah, that’s what I’d like to see them called – transformation photos, and they can only be called so if the model has continued to transform her body over time…

You will find some before and after photos on my site, but not many (and that’s only to appease people wanting to see before and after’s). I prefer progress pictures of my gals years later, as they continue to shape and tone those lovely bodies of theirs: tighter triceps, higher glutes, fuller biceps, a tighter mid-section.

See, that’s what weight training is truly about – moving things about, re-shaping, re-structuring. And that’s why I prefer on-going transformations as we witness a body being carved and shaped over time into a magnificent work of art. Becoming a smaller version of a once-big person is fine for a while, and its a great short-term goal, but once the weight is lost, then the transformation must continue onward for life!

Diets will shrink you, but weight training will transform you! After all, life is a journey, not simply a destination.

Check out these 3 women who continue to shape and mold their physiques over time, and who just get better with age! And that’s what life is all about! CHECK IT OUT! 

karen 

PS: My Best Shape Challenges are done for the summer, but they resume in September! For more info, check them out…they got these women up and running, and they can do the same for you! Limited seats! Sign up starts NOW!

10-Week Challenge
12-Week Advanced Challenge

I’m still amazed some people don’t ‘get’ what I do…guess that’s what I get for stepping outside the traditional training box and creating my own model!

My vision was simple: to offer quality programs to anyone anywhere in the world, ensuring it’s affordable and ensuring it stays personal over the Internet! 

And it’s growing!  Between my two Best Shape Challenges and my monthly Healthy Living Program, I now have women in 9 countries partaking in the programs!

Regardless of what program you do and with whom, never stop. Training  and staying healthy are the greatest acts of self-love you can do!