113. Navigating Busy Seasons and Staying Consistent with Your Fitness Goals

I don’t know about you, but the month of May has been pretty crazy, and has flown by! Between Mother’s Day, my wedding anniversary, my birthday, and other special occasions (like my daughter's high school graduation), it’s a fun month I always look forward to. I also know this can be a challenging time of year as kids are finishing up school, and everyone is transitioning to summer..which also means you may feel like you won’t be able to stay on track with your fitness goals. I used to feel this way, but over the years, I’ve gotten to the place of realizing I CAN make positive progress - you can too! It all comes down to consistency, and being super intentional with what you’re working toward.

Soo much of your health and fitness is super simple - you don’t need to overcomplicate everything, contrary to what the diet and fitness industry wants you to believe. It really comes down to actually knowing your long-term goals, and staying committed to the process - even if your weight loss, muscle gain, etc., is going slower than you would like it to. I want you to start building sustainable habits that work for YOU, no matter what your season of life looks like right now.

I hope this real talk episode gives you the encouragement you need to stop quitting on yourself, and take action to keep moving forward. Staying consistent with your fitness goals doesn’t have to feel daunting or unachievable, just because it’s Summer time - I know you can do it, and I’m here to support you on your journey, too!

In this episode, Navigating Busy Seasons and Staying Consistent with Your Fitness Goals, we cover:

• The realization that you really CAN achieve your goals, once you get back to a place of listening to your body and being intentional with what you’re doing
• Being able to enjoy foods that you love to eat, while gaining control and tracking macros in a way that works for you
• Why slow and steady weight loss is NOT a bad thing + knowing your long-term goal(s) and committing to the changes you’re making 
• Building sustainable habits and finding those little wins along the way, no matter how crazy busy your season of life

How to work with me:

FIT CLUB is a monthly membership with workouts designed to take the guesswork out of your fitness routine and get you the body you want. These workouts can be done at home or at the gym.

PRIVATE COACHING is my 1:1 program, where we work closely together to cut the BS, and learn what to do to get the results you want-for life! This is the best way to fast track your results and truly understand the journey, and you can choose a 3 month or 6 month option!

MASTER YOUR MACROS COURSE is available now! Go at your own pace and learn how to make macros fit into your lifestyle.

💁🏼‍♀️ Where to find me:

Connect with me on Instagram @kristycastillofit so we can keep this conversation going!

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If you’re looking for more of my best fitness and nutrition tips and community with other like-minded ladies and more, join my FREE Facebook group, Kristy Castillo Fit!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Welcome to the Un-Fuck-Your-Fitness Podcast. I am your host, Christy Castillo, and I'm here to give you real talk and cut the BS so you can actually enjoy building a body you love. I'm a personal trainer obsessed with giving you simple action steps to take you from feeling stuck to feeling sexy. Let's go. Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to today's episode.

Speaker 2: 0:34

This month is flying by. We are halfway through May. It's craziness. May is always the. For me, it's always the busiest time of year, but it's also really fun. I've talked about this before. I think that May is always the. For me, it's always the busiest time of year, but it's also really fun. I've talked about this before. I think that May is Mother's Day, it's my husband and I's anniversary, it's my birthday month, so it's like it's my favorite month by far. But this year, with all the sports that we have going on, with two kids in varsity sports, my daughter graduating actually this coming weekend as I'm recording this, her graduation party the following weekend Life is beyond crazy and there have been many times this month, this busy season, that I've been very, very thankful that I'm at the place, that I am mentally right now and physically right now, so I don't have to worry so much about my diet and my body and all this kind of stuff.

Speaker 2: 1:28

Yes, it's taken me a while to learn and to get here, but it really does help that I can take inventory of my situation right, like I talk about. I can pivot, I can figure out how many workouts a week I can commit to. I can commit to my macros. I can make little changes, like not taking snacks with me to track meets and baseball games except I did last night, but that's because I hardly ate anything during the day, so I was really actually hungry. So I did eat a beef stick and a protein peanut butter cup, but that's not that bad, but just little changes like that. I'm trying to only eat when I'm that. I'm trying to only eat when I'm hungry. I'm trying to make very good choices. So it's taking out a lot of that guesswork. And that kind of brings me to the topic that I want to talk about today, and this is going to be, per usual, just me talking to you as your friend, your coach, giving you some advice, really having a conversation, and this is a really hard time of year in general.

Speaker 2: 2:30

I think for a lot of people it's really, really busy. We are, as a mom, I'm getting ready to obviously transition through all the stuff I just mentioned, but all of our kids are going to be off of school for the summer. All of our kids are going to be off of school for the summer. Like, all of our lives are going to look a little different here for a while. And summer does bring some anxiety about that right, about how are we going to work, how are we going to take care of our kids, what is our schedules going to look like?

Speaker 2: 2:56

I have parties coming up, we have get togethers, we're going to the lake. I have to be in a bathing suit. How am I going to? What am I going to eat? How am I going to hit my macros at family barbecues and I want to drink alcohol on the weekends with my friends, and how am I going to hit my goals and all of those things. And it's bringing up some anxiety for my clients and, honestly, it was bringing up some for me too, a couple of weeks ago, when I started being more intentional with what I was eating and when I was eating and just listening to my hunger cues, like I said, only kind of eating when I'm hungry, being aware of when I am actually hungry, meaning when my stomach growls I'm like, okay, time to eat. What is the best choice for me to eat right now? And so just listening to my body, which, honestly and so just listening to my body, which, honestly, diets teach you not to do so that's something that I teach my clients and that I've had to teach myself is to listen to your body again. And this kind of brings me to the first topic.

Speaker 2: 3:59

The main topic, I guess, that I want to talk about in this episode is, as we transition into summer, it is absolutely possible for you to reach your goals and continue working towards your goals and hit your goals and do all the things For one you need to be intentional. Like we just talked about. So much of this, so much of your health and fitness journey is actually so fucking simple If we just listen to our bodies and we listen to someone who knows what they're talking about, instead of random facts and trying to get all the pieces together. Right, if you kind of narrow in your focus and do things intentionally. If you eat intentionally Monday through Friday, having a couple of drinks on the weekend isn't going to hurt anything. Actually, if you eat intentionally in every single day, you eat with intention, you go for walks and you get your steps up intentionally. You hit your workouts intentionally on days that you're supposed to. Having a couple of drinks any time of the week not every day of the week, but a couple of times a week right, like that's not going to hurt Having cupcakes at your children's or your friend's birthday parties. That's not going to hurt if you have two cupcakes at a party. A lot of this is just.

Speaker 2: 5:14

It's so simple and we just overcomplicate it because we've dieted for so long and we've cut out sugar and we've cut out processed foods and we've done low carb and we've done low fat and we think that that's the only way to get to the body we want or get the results that we want. And what that does is take us out of listening to your body. Your body needs carbs and if every time, your body is like telling you i'm'm really low on energy, I need some carbs, I'm hungry, you say no, can't have that, we can't have carbs, and you don't feed it, that that's you bringing yourself out of the awareness of your own body. And the same thing if your body is like I need to move, like I'm feeling achy, I need to get up, I need to move, and you're like I'm feeling kind of lazy, I don't want to work out today, that's going against your body. If you're feeling dehydrated but you think you're hungry, and so you just start snacking and snacking and snacking and your body's like I really just needed some water. We're not listening to our body.

Speaker 2: 6:17

This diet cycle and this, I guess, chronically dieting over and over and over and over you have these rules, you have these restrictions, you have these shitty mindsets and it just takes you away from your body. Just listening to what your body needs. Your body will tell you when it needs sleep. Your body will tell you when it's run down. Your body will tell you when it's thirsty. Your body will tell you when it's hungry.

Speaker 2: 6:43

If you just stop so much of this madness of I can only eat from this time to this time or I can only eat whole foods or I can only eat from this food list. And I say this because I was here. I used to eat off of food lists from Beachbody. I used to eat out of the little Beachbody containers. I used to check off foods that I was eating all day and there's nothing wrong with that sometimes because I did need to learn how to fuel my body. I needed to learn how I felt when I was properly fueled and when you're hitting your macros and you're learning that there is a learning curve, there is a learning process and it's okay to set guidelines, but they have to be healthy. It's okay to say I'm only going to allow myself to eat from this time to this time, because I do overeat in the evenings and that's not something that I feel comfortable letting myself do right now. Later on, when I have a healthier relationship with food, yes, I can open up that eating window and choose some healthier snacks in the evening.

Speaker 2: 7:41

But actually I've been talking to quite a few of my clients about this and I used to do the same thing when I started hitting macros. I would hit my macros, I'd plan it all out, I'd have it tracked in my fitness pal the day before, I'd eat all my food. After dinner, I'd save myself a little snack and then after that I would get into this nighttime eating binge fest and I would then have hit my macros and then I would eat ice cream and brownies and Oreos. Right, so I'm hitting my macros, but I still have this session in the evening where I'm like I just want to eat and I'm craving and I want sugar and I'm sitting down watching TV and a lot of my clients are like I've hit my macros but I'm still hungry or I just have this habit of nighttime eating. So if you need to put rules in place that are healthy. That's fine, like while you're learning, but the goal is to have awareness, to trust your body, to be able to listen to your body, to have a healthy relationship with food.

Speaker 2: 8:40

Actually, yesterday I thought of this in the morning, I opened my cupboard and my habit right now in the morning is I'm not super, super hungry because I do eat pretty late at night, and there's nothing wrong with that. Hitting your macros. Priority number one. I don't want you stuffing your face with food if you're not hungry. I don't want you starving yourself either, but I do eat kind of later at night because I don't eat a lot early in the mornings right now. And this is just how my life is right now, you don't have to do that. That's just how it's what's working for me. Okay, I've pivoted, this is what's working.

Speaker 2: 9:14

So I get up, I get things around kids off to school, whatever I'm doing, right and then I like to have, like usually about two rice cakes, two chocolate rice cakes with peanut butter or chocolate hummus on top. That really kind of just fills me up just perfectly. It kind of just takes the edge off. I drink my pre-workout, my EAAs, my L-carnitine. Right now is my little morning cocktail and that's like my routine.

Speaker 2: 9:35

Well, I opened the cupboard and it's a hot mess right now because we just remodeled the house and I haven't organized cupboards yet. But anyways, I opened the cupboard where, like, our junk food is and that happens to be where my rice cakes are and the top two shelves in this cupboard are full of junk food I'm talking. There are oatmeal cream pies, there's Doritos, there's Lay's, there's cereal, there's fancy cakes, little Debbie's, there's nutty bars, there's Yale fudge cookies, there's churro Oreos which are so freaking good if you haven't tried those. There's regular Oreos, there's wheat thins, there's goldfish, there's I don't even know. Those are just a couple of things that I have in my own personal super healthy right Cabinet.

Speaker 2: 10:22

But I was looking, I opened it and looked at that and none of it looked appealing. And I can kind of attribute a little bit of that to the L-carnitine, because it does kind of take my cravings away and makes me feel honestly. It helps me just to kind of take that edge off so that when I am hungry I have a second to think like, okay, what do I want? That? It really helps me with that. I love L-carnitine when I'm cutting. But I opened that cupboard, saw all that junk food and literally thought none of this looks appealing. And that's interesting because previously like even a couple weeks ago and definitely years ago I would have opened that, been very, very tempted to eat all of those things first thing in the morning and I either would have and then felt like shit, or I would have just thought about it all day and thought those are things I can't have that cupboard's off limits. I don't know how to control myself around those foods and I've worked past that to where I now have a healthy relationship with food.

Speaker 2: 11:19

Actually, the day before that I opened that cupboard, saw the fancy cakes really wanted one. I was starving. I ended up shutting the cabinet, walked outside and I was like I'm not going to have that right now. I need a second to just figure out what I actually want. I need a dinner and then I'm like you can have the fancy cakes but eat dinner first. If you still want the Little Dubbies, have it afterwards. I had my dinner. I had my ratio yogurt that I'm having right now, with some blueberries and caramel sauce drizzled on it. And it turns out I didn't want the fancy cakes anymore, so I didn't have them. I did have them yesterday, though in the evening, and that's fine.

Speaker 2: 11:59

It's not that I can't have those foods, it's that I just have more control around those foods right now and I've worked really hard to get there. How I've done that was listening to my body, but how I did that in the beginning. Because when you feel like you don't have any control over your cravings or over your food and you're learning macros and you're understanding kind of all of this, how I learned that initially was to track my macros and kind of have those things fit in. So I'm learning to track macros, which a lot of my clients are. And a lot of my clients have been told you can hit your macros with anything, eat whatever you want, as long as it fits your macros. I don't like that. And a lot of my clients have also been told here's a food list Eat very, very clean. All processed foods are off limits. But here's your macros, here's your calories. Here's your food list Only clean, whole foods. Don't eat anything you love. Basically, right, cut out all your favorite foods, all the sugar, and this is what you should be eating. I love a happy medium, but you do have to learn that in a way that brings you back to listening to your body, which is ultimately kind of where this episode is going. Right, I've talked about how diets take us away from that. So, whatever your body's kind of craving you're like absolutely not, we're not having that. I want you to kind of learn how to fit these things in, but I want you to be in control. If you're like, okay, I want a, let's say, little Debbie's, just because, no, let's say Oreos, because I love Oreos and that's my thing, so we're going to talk about Oreos.

Speaker 2: 13:30

If Oreos are something that you are constantly wanting, you're like man, every single night, I want Oreos. It's just this craving, it's this thing, it's this habit. Actually is what it is Like when you really think about it. It's a habit, it's what I want every night. It's like I eat dinner and then, all of a sudden, my brain's like Oreos. Right, I'm not saying that, that's true, but that happens to a lot of us where we're just like we have this habit. It's like I'm stuck in this nighttime eating. I'm craving these chocolates. I always binge at night. Whatever it's a habit is what it comes down to when you have to break that.

Speaker 2: 14:02

So either fitting them into your macros. Every day you put four Oreos. That doesn't seem like a lot, but whatever, that's what I used to have to do is have like two Oreos a day or four Oreos a day. I would plan that into my macros, I would, and then that's all I got was like, let's say, I'm having four Oreos, I had to like space them out throughout the day or save them all for the evening and you kind of figure out what's best for you, right? But instead of just taking that completely out and restricting, and then later on I'm going to be binging on it because it's something I quote unquote can't have. Learning how to work that in is so important.

Speaker 2: 14:40

But here's another thing that my clients are struggling with when they initially do this is if you're only eating clean foods and you're in a calorie deficit, you will lose weight faster, right? If you've gone low carb, you've gone low fat, you've gone low deficit, you will lose weight faster, right? If you've gone low carb, you've gone low fat, you've gone low calorie, you've lost weight quickly. If you're doing keto, you're doing whatever you're like man, the weight just falls right off. Yeah, that's because you've restricted so many calories. It's not necessarily that you're not eating Oreos. It's not the Oreos, it's that you've restricted so many calories that you're in a calorie deficit and you're eating super clean and that's fine. It's not the eating clean that I have a problem with. It's that you can't stick to that forever.

Speaker 2: 15:21

So when you start incorporating these other foods back into your life, back into your diet, the weight is coming back on. Weight is coming back on. So a lot of times when I'm in the midst of kind of teaching this to my clients of, okay, plan these Oreos into your day, plan to have two Oreos or four Oreos or whatever snack it is that they love, plan to have that in the evening and we're going to work your macros around it they start to get nervous. They're like, okay, I'm doing my workouts, I'm feeling really good, but I've never lost weight while eating Oreos before. So, christy, I'm like I don't think this is going to work. Maybe the weight's coming off a little slower. What usually is happening is, yes, the weight is coming off a little slower, but if they have a smart scale and if they're working on body recomp changes which everyone is we all need to build more muscle and we all need to lose fat it is happening slower. That initial body weight number is going to move slower and that's fine, that's good, that's preferred. I want you to build muscle and I want you to lose fat and ultimately that initial body weight number will move.

Speaker 2: 16:28

But it's unfamiliar to do this, so it's kind of scary. It takes a long time to like get your head around it. I remember this doing the same thing. I was like not really like the number on the scale isn't changing and I'm eating Oreos. This can't be right. But I stuck with it and what you have to do is continue to listen to your body. You have to commit, you have to know your end goal. If your end goal is to have a healthier relationship with food, to listen to your body honestly, to do this lifelong because that's what it's going to take. You have to be consistent.

Speaker 2: 17:00

Once you commit to body recomp and having a healthier relationship with food, you have to stop quitting. Once it feels hard, once it feels weird, once it feels challenging, once you're like I'm doing all the things and the weight's not coming off, the weight's not coming off. I just told you a couple episodes ago that happened to me. I'm 15 years into my journey and that's still happening to me. Where I cut calories, I was eating less calories, I was moving more and my weight wasn't changing at all for weeks, for weeks.

Speaker 2: 17:35

So it could take time for you. It takes time for me. It's not going to be quick, but you have to stop quitting. You have to stop going back on your word. You have to give it time, because you need to first gain the knowledge of what macros are, what are you doing, why you're doing it, and you also, in that time period, have to do the shit. You have to keep doing it to gain the confidence over and over and over and over and over. And it's going to be kind of uncomfortable and it's going to take discipline and it's going to take consistency over anything else. It's going to take consistency, but that is the best way. And without that solid foundation and without this work that you can do that you have to do yourself. Really, I prefer to do it alongside a coach. Even when I'm struggling, I'm like I need to reach out to my coach to help me, because I'm really feeling like I'm stuck. I want to quit. I don't understand this. I need help. So I love when my ladies come to me for help with that, because so many, if not all, of my ladies would have quit without me saying you're good.

Speaker 2: 18:42

Yeah, the number the overall body weight number, is moving a little slower, but look at your muscle mass. Look at your skeletal muscle going up. Look at your metabolic age creeping closer to your age, right. Look at your body fat going going up. Look at your metabolic age creeping closer to your age, right. Look at your body fat going down, like. Look at the numbers changing. You feel better, your clothes are fitting differently, right, like. You have to look at all these little things to be able to keep going.

Speaker 2: 19:05

And what that comes down to right now for me, and why I want to talk about this right now, is because this time of year is sneaky and you are going to see all of these shiny objects and these clean, or the cleanses and the detoxes and the quick fixes, and I want you to know that that is going to be another thing that's going to keep you stuck. And I know bikini season's coming and I know you're going to need to be in a bathing suit soon and I know you're going to be wearing tank tops and shorts, and I know bikini season's coming and I know you're going to need to be in a bathing suit soon and I know you're going to be wearing tank tops and shorts. And I also know that if you would have started and committed and lived intentionally in the beginning of the year, in January, until now you would have been in a much better place. But you keep putting it off and putting it off, and putting it off, and I want to encourage you to start now. Ok, it's going to be a little uncomfortable, it is what it is. But the sooner you start laying this foundation, the sooner you start relearning to listen to your body, the sooner you gain awareness and you can just really listen to your body and realize I'm just thirsty or realize I am hungry but I don't need the fancy cakes, right and start to be super consistent. The sooner you can start to do that, the better. And I have clients that have just started with me and they're like it's summer and things are gonna be crazy. And I'm like, yeah, so let's just commit to three workouts, our 10,000 steps a day, and starting to track your macros, like let's start super small and then let's start to increase your protein. And this is what it's going to look like for the next few weeks. No, that initial number might not move on the scale for you, but we're going to build muscle, build muscle, build muscle, get more steps in, build awareness, get that consistency, get that confidence and we're going to start listening to your body.

Speaker 2: 20:45

What the great part about this, too, is when they come to me and say like, hey, I didn't get my workout in today because I was just super, super busy, but I did hit my steps and I did hit my macros, I did hit my protein. I can say, like, do you feel good about that? Do you feel good? Do you feel like you gave your body what it needed today and what you could do? And they start to say, yeah, like that, I'm fine with missing a workout. I know I did what I could and I feel good about it. Those are the wins, those are the things that are going to take us further, and I promise you, when you start to do this, one day you're going to wake up and say, oh, my God, who is this person in the mirror? My body has changed so much. The number on the scale is not eating at me. I'm starting to do these other things and, ultimately, I'm starting to listen to my body and be more in tune with my body.

Speaker 2: 21:33

Another reason this is so important is because I've talked about this a little bit recently. I still have not gone to the doctor for my hormones After graduation party. I'm going to do that. I'm kind of on the back burner for the next few weeks but as I go through this time with my daughter and being really present with her, but I knew something was wrong because I have this good relationship with my body where I'm like I'm doing all the things I used to do, I'm pivoting, I'm doing all the things, I'm listening to my body and something isn't right. And unless you're in tune with your body, unless you have that awareness and that good relationship with food, with your body, unless you are super consistent and you know what your body needs, you won't know when something's wrong. And I can't stress that enough. As far as just I've heard other friends of mine who have been in situations where they're like I knew something was wrong with my body and I went to the doctor and I said this is how I'm feeling and it's not normal for me. A lot of people can't say that because they're not in tune with their body and they're like for me. A lot of people can't say that because they're not in tune with their body and they're like.

Speaker 2: 22:34

I didn't even notice the symptoms because I'm so tired all the time or, you know, I didn't have enough muscle mass to know that I felt so weak or my bones always hurt, my back always hurts, right, I don't know. I don't have this relationship with my body to where I know how it feels when it feels good and how it feels when it feels bad For me. I know that I can go to the gym and be like I can lift super heavy today, I feel super strong. Or I know I'm in the gym today. I mean in my garage gym. I'm in the gym today and I have to lift lighter because I didn't eat enough or I didn't sleep enough or my body's just feeling off and I give my body what it needs and it appreciates that so much.

Speaker 2: 23:14

Ladies, this is important for when we're our menstrual cycle, when we're on our period, we do have to lift and move a little bit differently. It is okay to be intuitive with your body and in tune with your body. It's okay. Actually, that's amazing and I think a lot of this diet cycle and a lot of this fitness industry takes us away from that right. We're so worried about when to work out and what to work out and what moves to do and what supplements to take and what macros to hit and it's like just listen to your body.

Speaker 2: 23:42

If you're trying to lose weight, just only eat when you're hungry. How fucking simple is that? Right? Nobody talks about that. Are you hungry? Eat. Are you not hungry? Then don't snack on shit. It's pretty damn simple. It's hard and the only reason you want to snack on so much shit is because you've restricted that for so long and you think it's quote unquote bad when it's not. So know your end goal. Hopefully, your end goal is to have a healthier relationship with your body, to have a healthy relationship with food and to do this long term.

Speaker 2: 24:14

Know that consistency is going to matter, no matter what. If you choose to do another quick fix and a fad diet right now, if you choose to only certain things and restrict certain things, eventually you're going to have to add those back in and this is going to be another time that you tried and that you failed. And I know that sucks and I'm just being honest with you. But the sooner you learn that consistency is the only thing that fucking matters in this journey, and being in tune and aware of what your body needs and what your body wants is going to take you a lot further than doing these crappy diets for the rest of your life. The sooner you know that, the better off you will be. So I know this is just kind of me chatting with you, but I prefaced with that, so I hope that was fine. I really I don't know.

Speaker 2: 25:01

I have kind of a love hate relationship with this time of year being. It's my favorite time of year, but I remember going into this time of year thinking I have to diet, I have to be smaller, I have to lift more, I have to. You know, really crunch time, because I was going to be in shorts and tank tops and not loving my body. I remember those times and that sucks and I want to encourage you to do something different this time. Otherwise it's going to be every single May you're stressing out about this, like it's time to do something different, and I just want to bring that to your awareness. So you know, I say this with love and with the intention of unfucking your fitness. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. I would love to hear from you, of course. In the DMs on Instagram, you can find me at Christy Castillo Fit. Shoot me a message. I love chatting with you and I will talk to you next week you and I will talk to you next week.

Speaker 1: 25:57

Thanks for listening to today's show. Go ahead and leave a rating and a review and, of course, follow the podcast so you don't miss out on any future episodes. And I would love it so much if you came to connect with me over on Instagram at Christy Castillo Fit. I will see you next time.