The Unf*ck Your Fitness Podcast

129. Being Obsessed with Your Habits Instead of the Outcome of Your Fitness Journey

• Kristy Castillo

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One of my favorite things to talk about is habits. They are so, SO important when it comes to unf*cking your fitness, and honestly..I want you to be obsessed with your habits! 

When I say ‘obsessed’, I don’t mean that in a super unhealthy way of course. But..I DO want you to be obsessed with the habits you’re creating and implementing, instead of being obsessed with the outcome (yes, there’s a difference)! Your habits should be a priority, and something to honor and protect, no matter what's happening in your life. Just because life gets crazy or throws you ‘off track’ for whatever reason, doesn’t mean your habits should go out the window.

While the results and end goal(s) you’re working toward matter, I would much rather you focus on building sustainable habits you enjoy, and can maintain long-term! Whether you need to improve your relationship with food, find a fitness routine that works for you, etc., you HAVE to get crystal clear on how you’re going to get there. You also need to make sure you can (and actually want to) continue what you’re doing to keep those results, because if not..why even bother doing so in the first place?!

The information I’m sharing here probably isn’t brand new or earth shattering, but I hope my real, no BS approach (like always) is just what you needed. I want you to freaking LOVE the habits you’re building and truly enjoy the process so you CAN achieve long-lasting results, regardless of where you are on your fitness journey! 

In today’s episode, we cover:

  • The importance of your habits + protecting & honoring them, regardless of what life throws your way
  • Why being obsessed with the ‘outcome’ of what you’re doing shouldn’t be the only thing you’re focused on
  • Why fixing your relationship with food is essential + breaking down how to actually do this
  • Understanding that if you’re not getting the results you want on your fitness journey, you’re not putting in the right kind of work
  • Finding a sustainable way to achieve your goals
  • Learning to truly ENJOY the habits you’re creating so you can do them long-term

Related episode mentioned: Episode 127 | How to Effectively Shift Your Workouts, Macros and Mindset from Summer to Fall

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Speaker 1:

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?

Speaker 2:

Welcome to today's episode. I'm really excited to be talking to you about one of my favorite things to talk about when it comes to unfucking your fitness and that is your habits. But first I want to say thank you so much for all of the love on last week's podcast episode talking about never giving up and your self-worth and your journey and all that. I sometimes second-guess myself after recording a podcast episode. I know I think it's easy to look at people on social media and think that they're some kind of not human being and think that they probably never struggle and whatever. And I don't know. I don't know how that would ever be true. But I do sometimes record an episode and after I'm done, I think I don't know if I did that justice. I don't know if I said all the things that I wanted to. I don't know if that's going to be good. I don't know if I did that justice. I don't know if I said all the things that I wanted to. I don't know if that's going to be good. I don't know if that's going to reach people. I don't know if that's helpful. Basically, it's not like oh, I don't know if I did a good job recording it. It's more like I don't know if that's going to be helpful. And, yeah, I was kind of second guessing myself after that one, but I left it. I went with it and I thought, for whatever reason, I think I'm supposed to talk about this this week. So I went with it and to my surprise, I've gotten so many messages saying thank you so much. That is exactly what I needed, and just little bits and pieces. You know you guys pull from it and have been posting it on your social media and just sharing little snippets that resonated with you, and sharing stories with me about how or just different things you're going through that are causing you to wanna quit and wanna give up and just to not be sure about things, and that this was a really good time for you to hear that. So it just it's very nice.

Speaker 2:

I don't say that I love to hear from you as a joke, like I really do love to hear from you, and I also am aware that there are messages that I don't get to. There are messages that I don't see. They pop back up after a couple weeks. You're like, oh my God, I never responded. So I'm sorry if you have a message to me and it's sitting there somewhere. But, honestly, I really do appreciate it because it helps me to remember that when I feel like my clients are struggling with something, or when I feel like this is a topic that's just on my heart or that I really feel like I need to get out there, that I do need to just keep listening to that, and it really I just love hearing that it's helping you. So thank you so much for that.

Speaker 2:

And now I want to just dive right into the topic, which is being obsessed with your habits rather than being obsessed with the outcome. Now, this is not anything new really that I'm going to say. There's no real new earth shattering. You know breaking news here, but this is such a good reminder.

Speaker 2:

I have been having so many conversations with people lately where I'm reminded that, yes, you can have all the tools and yes, you can have the right mindsets and you can know all of the things to do, but if you don't do the things, or if there's a little piece missing or there are circumstances to where, god, I know what I should be doing but I'm not doing it whether it's self-sabotage, whether you are obsessed with or focused on the outcome more than you're focused on the habits. Maybe your habits are incorrect or you're still trying to be obsessive and perfect with them. Whatever the case may be, I've been having a lot of these conversations lately and it's just reminding me that I want to help remind you that habits are so important. And I specifically said be obsessed with your habits, in the sense that that by itself is one thing. Be obsessed with your habits, okay. Be obsessive with them. Protect them with everything that you have.

Speaker 2:

If you are someone who wants to walk 10,000 to 12,000 steps a day and you want to get four workouts in a week and you want to drink 80 ounces of water a day, and you have all these things that you want to do in a day, if you have habits that you want to do in a day, don't let anything deter you from those. Don't let last minute plans with people, don't let you know misplanning, don't let things creep into your life that take you away from these habits, because when you have a habit that is good and that's healthy and you stick to it, that causes you to build confidence because you're like I said, I was going to start getting up at 5 am, and I do get up at 5 am and I feel good and I said I was going to have this is me, not the 5 am right now, but this is me with the salads. I said I'm going to have a salad every single day and I'm having a salad every single day. I said I'm going to have my supplements every single day and I'm having my supplements every single day. That builds confidence. Supplements every single day, that builds confidence. That routine, that self-trust, that builds confidence in you.

Speaker 2:

And if you are obsessed with your habits, that's a good thing. Okay. And you can even like being obsessed with breaking some bad habits is fine too. So be obsessive with them, because your habits ultimately are getting you. Your habits up until this day have gotten you to where you are.

Speaker 2:

We've talked about this in an episode before. If you are broke, that means you are habitually spending too much money. If you are overweight, that means you are habitually not moving enough and eating too much. If you are in a terrible relationship, that means you are habitually letting someone walk all over you, or maybe you're being the asshole or whatever. It is right If you, whatever X, y and Z on this date, whatever habits you've done within that category of life up until this date have gotten you to where you are. So maybe you need to say goodbye to some habits. Be obsessed with them, though. Take it very seriously, get involved, be excited, like, get motivated about it, because your habits will drive you to where you want to go, period, okay.

Speaker 2:

If you are obsessed with the outcome of where you want to go, that's not gonna get you anywhere, and some people might disagree, because some people will say no, you have to keep your end goal in mind. And I'm not saying that Keep your end goal in mind. And I'm not saying that Keep your end goal in mind, right. But that can't be the only thing that you're obsessed with, and I know that from experience, because, health and fitness wise, when my end goal was the only thing trying to get me out of bed to work out, it wasn't really working, and my end goal at that time, way back years ago, was like I want to have abs no-transcript day. You cannot be obsessed with the outcome and still not have any habits in place. You can't just say your goal every day of I want to have a better relationship with food. I want to have a better relationship with food. I want to have a better relationship with food. Okay, cool. What the fuck are you doing about it? Good for you. You want to have that and that's a great place to start. But now you can't be obsessed with that anymore. Say it and if that's what you want, move on to now. I have to be obsessed with the habits. Now, to dive a little bit deeper into these habits, let's say, let's go ahead and use that example that I just created on a whim, because I don't have any notes for this episode. I'm just chatting with you, which I love.

Speaker 2:

If fixing your relationship with food and this is a lot of my clients' goal I would say they don't really say it in that way of I want to fix my relationship with food, but they do want to learn to track macros. They do want to have a relationship with food to where they have staple foods and they can go out to eat with their families and they can enjoy food and they don't have to stress about food. They don't have to think about food all day. Maybe we want to meal plan and meal prep and maybe you don't. So ultimately, that is fixing your relationship with food so that you aren't guessing all the time and wondering if you're right or wrong, or if you had a good day or a bad day, or I think I ate well, I'm eating clean, I try to eat good, whatever those things mean, right, but you don't really know what you're doing. So if fixing your relationship with food has a wide range of what that exactly means for different people, but if fixing your relationship with food is the goal, cool, we accept that we want to fix our relationship with food.

Speaker 2:

How do we do that? Well, if someone were to come to me, I would say okay, what are we doing right now? What is your relationship with food right now? Well, right now, if I eat processed food, I feel like shit and I feel like I shouldn't eat processed food, because my old coach told me not to go to Starbucks and get sugary drinks, and they told me not to eat out at restaurants and they told me not to eat anything that wasn't meal planned or meal prepped. They told me not to, you know, whatever do all of these things. And so now they feel like that's bad, and now I'm kind of like scared to eat certain things around my kids. I'm scared to give them a bad mindset around food and it kind of trickles on.

Speaker 2:

So what we need to do is understand, like, what is the foundation of food? It is calories, which can be broken down into macronutrients, which we shorten it to as macros, which are carbs, fats and proteins. Each of those have a role in your body to help you live, survive. Protein is the building blocks of your body, carbs give you energy, fats give you energy and protect your organs, and many other things that those things do, but we need each one of those. When you realize that your body needs each one of those macronutrients and it not only needs them, but it needs a specific amount of them to function properly now you understand that your body does actually need food. So now we figure out how much calories, how much protein, fats and carbs your body needs.

Speaker 2:

You start to track your food to see what you're currently consuming, and you're like oh my God, I thought I was eating good, pretty healthy, but it turns out, yeah, I'm not eating bad, I'm eating pretty healthy, but I'm not eating enough. I need to change what I'm doing here. So it takes some time to do that. And then we realize, okay, well, you can go out to eat and choose off of the menu. Maybe you're having a salad, maybe you're having some rice and salmon, maybe you're having whatever it is a taco, chicken, tacos, chicken fajitas and maybe you're having them cook it in less oil or a different kind of oil or whatever it can be. We can walk through those things, but habitually.

Speaker 2:

What that looks like is you have to now be obsessed with thinking about food as fuel. Food as fuel. Carbs are not bad. Processed foods are not bad. Carbs are good for you. Processed foods are okay in moderation, and you have to be able to look at that. So one habit that I would say to be obsessed with is telling yourself food is fuel. My body needs food, my body needs fuel.

Speaker 2:

You also need to become obsessed with tracking, because if you don't know what you're putting in your body, just like if you don't know what you're spending out of your checking account and then you look and it's gone, that's your own fault. If you don't know what you're feeding your body and then you think I think I'm eating enough, that's your own fault because you have no goddamn idea. So you have to be obsessed with tracking. It is what it is. It's not hard, it's not time consuming, it's not. So get that out of your head right now. Get a coach that'll teach you that it's easy and make it easy for you. You'd have to be obsessed with tracking, and then you also have to be obsessed with just putting in that work over and over and over. Consistently right Food is fuel. I need it. I have to track this food to be able to see what I'm eating, and then I also have to maybe say no to things and also maybe say yes to things. I probably have to say yes to some rice now and I probably have to say no to some snacks now, and that's okay, because this is my end goal, right?

Speaker 2:

If you want to build muscle, if you want to have more muscle on your body and have shape and be strong, you have to be obsessed with your habits, which are eating enough food to build muscle, doing workouts that help you, that cause you to build muscle. You can't be running all the time. You can't be't be running all the time. You can't be doing HIIT all the time. You can't be doing low carb. You can't be doing low calorie. You have to prioritize your sleep. You have to prioritize your water. You have to prioritize your stress management. You have to be obsessed with those things every single day and you can't look in the mirror every day and say I don't have any muscle yet. I don't have any muscle yet, that doesn't matter. You look in the mirror and you say don't have any muscle yet Showing up tomorrow. No matter what right these habits happen, no matter what. So being obsessed with the habits helps you to actually do them. Imagine that, and then you see the end result. So let's dive into habits a little bit more, in the sense of.

Speaker 2:

I want to talk about this in two ways. I spent a long time in my Beachbody era, we'll say, doing habits and trying to be obsessed with habits that I could not maintain. So I was a Beachbody coach, which meant I was encouraged to talk about what I was doing all the time, of course, and I'm very habitual, as we all know. Also, I'm very consistent. I'm very habitual. I will do things that work on repeat. If I say I'm going to do something, I'll do it. I'm very good at that anyway. So I'm measuring my food and I'm weighing my food and I'm putting it in these containers, and I'm doing these workout videos and I'm showing up and I'm doing these habits day after day after day after day, none of which I'm enjoying because, except for the Lift 4 Beachbody program and I think I just talked about this in an episode the Lift 4 Beachbody program and the Body Beast Beachbody program and P90X I would say when I first started, I didn't really love at all any of the Beachbody programs, like they just weren't for me.

Speaker 2:

I didn't enjoy doing them and they didn't yield the results that I wanted. So I was showing up and I was putting in the work, okay, but I wasn't yielding the results that I wanted because it was the wrong work. So I hear you, if you're out there like Christy, I'm, I'm doing the work. I hear you You're probably. Well, you are, it's not probably. If you're not seeing the results that you want to see, then you're not putting in the right work. You could be working your ass off.

Speaker 2:

I talk to a lot of ladies that are like I do all the things and I don't even look like I work out. I work out seven days a week, an hour in the gym, lifting weights, and you cannot tell. So I know that's frustrating. I have been there. Something's not right. Okay, it's not your effort, it's just what you're putting your effort into. See what I did there. But really it's not that you're not putting in work, it's that you're not putting the work into the right things. So that's obviously very important.

Speaker 2:

Your habits have to be the right habits, otherwise what you're doing is they're literally just habits that aren't helping you at all and it's just spinning your wheels. So I understand that part of it. Another part of it is when I did look, I thought that I looked great doing a Beachbody program. The way that I looked so great. And, mind you, at this point in time I was very small, I didn't have a lot of muscle tone, but I was just putting muscle on, so I was noticing it. I was very lean. I was also measuring everything, tracking everything, very obsessive hardly any processed foods, no sugar, like very, very strict meal plan. Okay, so this brings me to a point, the point of what you do to achieve something you also have to keep doing to maintain that. So keep that in mind when you are creating your habits and being obsessed with them.

Speaker 2:

Are these habits that you can literally do until you get to the goal and after, if you want to maintain it, because the goal isn't just to get to the body that you want. In this particular example, the goal isn't just to achieve food freedom, it's to maintain it, your relationship with food. You want a better relationship with food forever. You don't just want to get it one day and then it's gone, you want to keep it. I wanted a strong-toned, badass, freaking, fine-looking body and I want to keep it forever. So the way that I achieve it has to be the way that I maintain it.

Speaker 2:

I have a lot of clients that are like man, I just want to see results faster. And I talked about this in a little rant a couple episodes ago where you know I want to see results faster. I just want to cut these calories. I want to cut carbs, I want to and I'm like no, keep your calories the same and add in some steps. You can sustain that. You can keep eating a little bit more and you can walk a little bit more.

Speaker 2:

But if you keep cutting calories and cutting calories and cutting calories, eventually your body will shut down, obviously. But before that will happen, you will just start binge eating again. You'll start adding in the processed foods and all the shit that you cut out to cut calories. You'll add that back in. You'll add your weight back on, plus some, because you're stress, eating and all the things, and that's not good because you can't maintain it. So what you do to achieve it, the habits that you have in place to achieve something hard, have to be there after you achieve that hard thing. If you want to sustain it, if you want to keep whatever you're trying to attain, you have to keep doing these habits long term.

Speaker 2:

And when I realized that, I was like, oh hell, no, I am not going to be in my 60s and 70s. I could just I've said this before too I could picture myself as like a oh hell, no, I am not going to be in my 60s and 70s. I could just I've said this before too I could picture myself as like a grandma, right, like an older woman, measuring my food in these little color-coded containers and putting it into an app and looking at my food list to go grocery shopping. Absolutely not, I'm not going to do that. And that's when my quest started to figure out how to do this my way. The right way for me and that's what it had to look like was like okay, this is going to take a little bit longer, but I get to eat Oreos, so I'm pretty happy about it. It's going to be fine and when I get to the goal that I want, when I get to the goal that I have, when I get the body that I want, I will know how to keep it, and that is what's missing so much.

Speaker 2:

So keep that in mind when you are being obsessed with your habits. Be obsessed with also asking yourself is this something that I can keep doing? Can I keep walking 8, 10, 12,000 steps a day? Here in Michigan last year when I started my step goal, I was like I can't continue with 10 to 12,000 steps a day in the winter because I could go outside and walk, but I'm not going to. So I bought a walking pad, tiny little treadmill. You can slide it under your couch. You can put it under your desk if you're at a standing desk and walk on it. Mine's in my garage right now. I'll move it inside when it's really cold. But that's something that I was like yeah, I can keep doing 10 to 12,000 steps. I can check emails while I'm walking. On that. I can voice message clients and do phone calls, whatever. Watch some TV while I'm walking I can keep doing that. That's a habit that I'm now obsessed with. I've been doing it extremely consistently for just over a year and I don't have any plans of stopping.

Speaker 2:

Like that's a habit that I'm like yep, I'm obsessed with this. It makes me feel great, it makes me feel lean. I have my alone time, whatever, I'm obsessed with this. I'm obsessed with hitting my protein. I'm obsessed with hitting my macros. I'm obsessed with lifting. I'm obsessed with the habits that I have right now to get me the body that I have right now, to help me maintain the body that I have right now. Very little things in my life and my habits need to change. So keep that in mind. The habits that you become obsessed with better be habits you can keep long term. Yes, you need to pivot, yes, you need to change things a little bit, but ultimately, these habits need to stick with you for life. And then next you need to be able to enjoy these habits, and I say that meaning no, I don't enjoy my workouts all the time.

Speaker 2:

They're freaking hard. I can't even remember the last time I wanted to work out. I have just been in a slump of like I could really give a shit less to go out into the garage and work out. I don't want to. Even today I was so not in the mood that I'm like, okay, pick four movements and do them. So I did leg extensions and then I did incline chest press with dumbbells and then I did RDLs or straight leg deadlifts, both of those, I kind of mixed them with the barbell, and then I did some back pull downs with the machine. And that might have been it, and I was like and I'm done, and it sucked and it was hot out there, hotter than I thought I was in the mood, but I did it. I'm obsessed with doing it. I will show up and I will do the dang workout, whether I'm complaining about it or whether I'm smiling through it, whatever the case may be, I enjoy that, I enjoy walking, I enjoy the foods that I'm having right now.

Speaker 2:

I'm not meal prepping right now, I'm meal planning sort of, but I have my staple foods, so I don't really have to. I noticed early on that meal planning every single meal out for the week and then shopping for that and then bringing it home and then meal prepping and making all the chicken and all the beef and all the veggies and all the rice and all the things and then putting it into these perfectly pictured containers was not for me. I didn't enjoy that. That is not a habit that I could do long-term, so that's not for me. What I do instead is I have staple foods that I know I can choose from. I know exactly how much protein my yogurt has. I know exactly how much protein my shakes, my bars, my salad, my salmon, my tuna you name it right Everything that I eat. I know my tuna, my you know, you name it right Everything that I eat.

Speaker 2:

I know basically all my staple foods anyway. I know exactly what it consists of macro wise, as far as what I need to hit my goals, and that's it that works for me and I enjoy that. I know what I'm going to get when I go to the store. I know I'm going to open my yogurt and I can put a little cherry pie filling on there with some whipped cream or with some chocolate chips. I know I can kind of doctor things up a little bit. Try new spices, try new dressings, whatever. Try new flavors of oatmeal, try different pancake mix. I just bought buttermilk and chocolate from the Clean, simple Eats brand, really liking that pancake mix. So there's different things that I can eat, but I don't have to prep it, I don't have to plan it, because I basically inherently know, because I tracked, because I didn't make excuses with that when it was my time to do that and learn. That's how I know that. But I enjoy the meals that I have right now. I enjoy the foods that I have right now.

Speaker 2:

I enjoy the workouts as much as I can. Most of all, I enjoy the results that I get from those workouts. But I don't like HIIT. I hate HIIT. I hate following videos on the television like workout videos. So I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do HIIT and I'm not going to do workouts on the television. That's not for me.

Speaker 2:

I have clients who are like I love my 45, my F45 classes, I love my CrossFit classes. I love doing these types of group classes and they're like I know you don't, christy, so can I still work with you? And I'm like, yeah, absolutely, if that's what you love to do, if you love to run, bike, swim, do these classes. They may or may not be exactly what you need for your goal at the moment. These classes may not help you build muscle as fast as doing strict bodybuilding movements would right. Adding some running in may not encourage your muscle to grow as fast as it would if you weren't running, but it is what it is Like. We'll make it work If you enjoy those things.

Speaker 2:

I don't want you to quit them, I just want you to know the truth of it may stall your progress a little bit, or you may have to eat a little bit more or whatever, to kind of fill in the gaps to get you to your goal. But if that's a habit you want to keep and you love by all means by all means, because I want this journey to be something you enjoy. If it gets to the place where you're like I'm putting in all this work and I'm not seeing the results, then I'm like well, this is why, because the work you're putting in, all this cardio, all these HIIT, all this extra fluffy stuff that you love, I get it, but maybe we need to tone back a little bit. So enjoying what you do is very important, and I don't mean enjoy it like oh my God, this is so fun. Like I just said, I don't love grocery shopping.

Speaker 2:

I don't love even putting my yogurt in a bowl. I wish someone would do that for me and just bring it to me. I wish I had a chef to just literally deliver food to wherever I'm at and be like here you go, it's time to eat. I don't enjoy making it, but it's something I enjoy a hell of a lot more than putting it in little tiny containers, right? I don't enjoy the process of mutilating my muscles and sweating and dying in the gym sometimes, but I do love it more than any other type of workout that I've ever done, so I'm going to stick with it.

Speaker 2:

So, enjoying the process, being obsessed with the process, is very, very important, because if you can find habits, you can find a lifestyle. You can find things that work for you. You won't have to stop. And that, my friends, is the goal. Right, to achieve something, to maintain it and enjoy the process and to be obsessed with those habits, instead of being obsessed with that end goal and always getting on the scale and not seeing the weight go down, or always getting on the scale and not see your muscle mass going up. We want to see progress, for sure, but we really want to enjoy the process too, right?

Speaker 2:

If I was in this body right now and I had to really suffer so hard to get here, I would have gotten this body and been like, okay, that really sucked and I'm not doing that anymore. All of those things that I had to do to get here because I was freaking nightmare. So now what? You, what? I literally can't maintain this. So what was the point of that? So I teach my ladies and I would much rather you, if you're not one of my ladies, even I would rather you get there a little bit slower enjoy the process, understand the process, understand why you're doing the things, what you are supposed to be doing, how long you need to do them, what does this look like? And then enjoy the process. I work with my clients too. Like I said, if some of them are going to classes and they want three weightlifting workouts a week for me and they want to go to these classes, I create the workouts for them based on what they do in the classes, based on their lifestyle, so that it really really does work and they can ultimately become obsessed with their habits.

Speaker 2:

But main takeaway from this episode do not be obsessed with the end goal. Set the end goal and then be obsessed with the habits. This is how you will get to your goal and so much further. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. As usual, I love it. Like I already said, if you share me on your stories, tag me, send me a message, leave me a rating and a review on Apple or Spotify or wherever you are listening, I just love to hear from you everywhere. Thank you so much. I'll talk to you next week.

Speaker 1:

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. Bye.