The Unf*ck Your Fitness Podcast

169. Aligned, Not Rushed: Creating a Fitness Journey That is Sustainable

• Kristy Castillo

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When it comes to your ‘dream body’, you probably have a good idea of what that is/how it looks.


But…if you woke up tomorrow with that body, would you know how to achieve it? And even more, would you know how to MAINTAIN it??


I’m betting the answer is NO, because most of the time, you have no clue where you’re going on your fitness journey! It’s not your fault either, because there is sooo much confusion surrounding health and fitness in our world today.


It’s vital that you get super clear on YOUR specific body goals, and understand what route will get you there. It’s totally okay to take more of a ‘scenic route’ on your fitness journey - you want the path you take to be enjoyable AND sustainable.


It’s not going to be very fun to arrive at your ‘goal body’, but not be able to maintain it for more than a couple of days, ya know?!


I hope this short & spicy episode encourages you with creating a fitness journey that is sustainable for YOU. Long-term success with your fitness is TOTALLY possible!! 



In this episode, we cover:

  • The confusion that comes with your ‘dream’ body & not understanding how to get it or maintain it
  • Why you need to know *exactly* where you’re going on your fitness journey
  • Understanding that you ARE capable and you just need the *right* path to help you achieve & sustain your fitness goals


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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 short, sweet and spicy episode. I want to talk to you about a concept that I think is very interesting and very important to think about when you are getting ready to start a program or a journey, or just kind of. Even if you're in the middle of this and kind of thinking about what you want and how to set your goals, I think it's overwhelming sometimes to honestly think about, like, what do I want my body to look like? What do I want for myself? Because a lot of times we don't even know what the options are right, what the possibilities are. I think we're so stuck a lot of times by what we see on social media, what our friends are doing, what we think about ourselves, what we've been taught growing up, what people said about us, self-limiting beliefs like what do I want for my body? Right? Do I need to lose weight? Do I need to gain muscle? What do I need? I have a lot of clients that come to me and they're like I don't even know what I want. I want to look good, I want to feel good, but I don't know you know what that technically means. I don't know how to do any of this right. I think that's a really good question and it's a really good thing to kind of notice that you're feeling totally stuck and that's okay. But we do have to figure that out for you. Like, you can't really get the body that you want if you don't know what body you want. Do you want a strong body? Do you want a small body? Do you want a thick body? Do you not care what kind of body you have? Like what does that really really mean and how do you get that body? And how are you healthy and have the body you want and have food freedom, right? Like there's a kind of a lot that goes into it, and so it's no wonder that we get really confused about those things.

Speaker 2:

I actually just had a client call and she came to me with an idea of a suggestion. Like I think I want to do this and I want to start a cut and I want to start going to the gym, and you know, this is kind of what I want for myself. She had this very strict way that she not strict, she had this very specific way that she wanted to look. And she came to me with the idea like you know, I know I need to start going to the gym, I know I need to start lifting heavy and I know I need to go into a cut to lose fat and I'm ready to do that. And I was like, okay, well, let's talk about it. Let's talk about how you would actually get that body and what that would take, what you'd have to give up, how often you'd have to show up.

Speaker 2:

I asked her another question which was imagine you have that body right now. She actually had like a picture of kind of an inspiration picture of a body, which is great. I had my inspiration picture years ago was Jamie Eason from bodybuildingcom. I don't know what she's up to these days. I haven't followed her in years. It's actually funny.

Speaker 2:

My son and I were going through photos on my Facebook. I think it was the other day. I can't remember what we were looking for, but it was back in my early, early fitness days, which is so cringe and embarrassing and I need to delete the whole thing. But it was a picture of Jamie Easton and he was like, oh my gosh, look at this picture. And I was like I wanted to look like her so bad. I told him like that was my inspiration and my hair looked like hers and I was small. I am short and small and I just wanted to look muscular like her. But I had no clue how to get there.

Speaker 2:

And this kind of rolls right into this question that I asked my client was imagine that you have that body right now. Let's say you had that body right now. You woke up, you looked like this person. How would you have to show up to keep that body? If you woke up with that body, do you know what you would have to do to maintain it? And she was like no, absolutely not. I don't even know how to get it. She said I just told you I don't even know how to get that body. I would absolutely not know how to keep it. And I said, okay, that's part of the problem with this whole journey is and it was the same thing for me I had this picture of Jamie Eason. I wanted to look like her.

Speaker 2:

I was doing Beachbody or bodybuildingcom workouts at that time to get that body. It wasn't really working because I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know how to get that body and if I had woken up with that body, I probably would have wanted to. I probably would have thought that I needed to work out all the time and not even work out all the time, I probably would have thought running is at that point, I didn't know anything right. I probably would have thought I needed to starve myself and like overwork.

Speaker 2:

I guess and I think that's what a lot of people would think Like, if I woke up with my dream body, I would think that I would have to work so hard to keep it and it would be so, so stressful. And, first of all, that's not really the case. I maintain my body well, besides perimenopause and whatever is going on with myself right now, which I've pretty much gotten a handle on not perimenopause, apart from my body physically reacting to that I can maintain my body pretty easily right now. I know exactly what it takes and I've said that before on the podcast and I've said that before in real life to people. I know exactly how to keep my body where I want it, and that came with a lot of trial and error. It probably would have came easier if I would have hired a coach, but I didn't back then. But that is such an interesting concept.

Speaker 2:

So I want you, I'm asking you, the same thing right now, if you woke up with your dream body, if you looked at yourself in the mirror right now and you had your dream body and you were like, ah, yes, I made it, what would you do? Would you have any idea how to maintain that body? No, I can almost guarantee, for most of you it's a no. And that is a problem, because that's why we're cutting out processed foods and we're cutting out carbs, and we're running and running and running and we're lifting and lifting, and lifting, and we're no rest days and we're, you know, doing all the things, thinking that that's how we get the body. And it's probably not.

Speaker 2:

And then also, if those things got you to that body, how are you going to keep it? Because what you're doing is maybe losing weight, losing weight, losing weight, losing weight. You finally get there. Well, how do you stop losing weight? Then You're either going to keep losing, right, and then you're going to like, pass the body, you, you're gonna like wave at it and be like well, made it, now we'll see ya, because I'm still losing weight. Or you're going to stop doing all the things and be like okay, nailed it, done, program's done, nailed, you know, got it, got the body I wanted. I've been there before. And then I'm like, no, I guess I can go back to eating Oreos for dinner and like, just where are you going? And when I say like what body you want, I mean I hope you know. I mean like, yeah, what body do you want? But like you also have to think about, yeah, what's it going to take you to get there? What are you going to have to give up to get there? And let me just be honest with you. You're going to have to know, you have to put in the work.

Speaker 2:

And another part of the problem is we don't know. For one, we don't really know where we're going. We don't know what the end result is, and that's a problem because we need to know exactly where we're going. If you're going on a road trip and you're like, well, here we go, let's just get in the car and drive, you're not going to make it to. Well, if you don't even know where you're going, then which direction do you even start? For one, you're swinging it. Who knows where you'll end up, and that's fine.

Speaker 2:

If you're going on a vacation and you don't care where you end up, it's not fine if you're talking about your physical body and you're like, oh fuck it, I'm just going to do whatever I want, then you're going to end up with a lot of health issues. So you have to have a plan. The route you take to get there can be different, right, you have to know where you want to end up, though, so you can take the most direct route, or you can take the little scenic route. That's fine. You have to know where you're going, and then, once you get there, what are you going to do when you go on a vacation? What are you doing once you get there? Where are you staying? Where are you sleeping? Where are you getting food? How long are you staying there? And then, do you want to live there or you turn around and come back home?

Speaker 2:

So if you're starting a new workout program and you're counting macros and you have an end goal, well, also think about when you get there. Then what Am I staying there? Or am I just going to like turn around and go back to the habits that I had before and give up this? I got spotty. I love it so much, but I got to say see you later because I don't know what to do with it now. Plan for when you get there too.

Speaker 2:

So plan on where you're going, where's your end result, and then plan what the heck am I going to have to do to maintain it. Am I willing to do that? Should I take the fastest route to get there? Or should I take the scenic route? Because maybe on the scenic route I can grab groceries right, I can call a hotel and make sure they have room for me. On your fitness journey, that looks like maybe I can have fun at some parties, maybe I can take a rest day, I can get sick and not stress. I'll be able to maintain it. Once I get there, I'll know exactly what I did. I'll have hit some bumps in the road, but I know exactly now how I got here and I'll know exactly how to maintain it.

Speaker 2:

Because what is the point of waking up at a beautiful place on vacation if you have no idea how to? You have no money, you don't have a bed to lay in, you got no food. It's not gonna be fun if you're living on the streets, okay. It's not gonna be fun to arrive at your goal body if you have no idea how to maintain it. You're just gonna be pissed. You'll be like well that one time I hit my goal weight and I looked amazing and I felt so good We'd probably all been there, honestly but I didn't know how to keep it.

Speaker 2:

So not only did I go back to where I started, but I put on like 10 extra pounds because, life right, you didn't know. You didn't know how to maintain it. So this is just kind of one of those little sassy episodes, a little kick in the pants for you that if you have done diets in the past and if you have lost weight and if you have gotten your goal body and you have finished a program and you have completed the assignment, whatever that was, and you got to where you wanted to go, and then you didn't know how to keep it and you had to go back to where you started, we've all been there. But if you want to stop doing that, this is how you autocorrect you have to know where you're going, you have to know how to maintain once you get there and you have to be willing to do the things to maintain it once you get there. Otherwise, what is the point of going? There is no point, let me just tell you.

Speaker 2:

But I think this is really eye-opening because for me, I wanted that Jamie Eason body and I didn't know how to get it. And if I would have woke up with it I would have been thrilled with myself for probably I don't know four days and then it would have been gone because I would have had no idea how to maintain it. So it's really, really important that you are honest about that, and that's what happened with this client. I asked you know if you woke up today with that body, would you know how to maintain it? And she said no. I asked you know if you woke up today with that body, would you know how to maintain it? And she said no, I don't even know how to get there, let alone maintain it.

Speaker 2:

So we had to back way up and go through these options, like are you willing to hit the gym this many days a week and do this amount of workouts and hit this amount of steps and go into this amount of a cut to get that body in the shortest amount of time? Do that direct route or would you rather me walk you through Because I can create that plan for you super simply and give it to you? Honestly, you're gonna fuck it up in about three days, because I just know no one can stick to that. No one can stick to that long-term. Or do you wanna take that scenic route and I can teach you. Walk along with you, you'll know how to get there, you'll understand, you'll enjoy the journey of getting that body that you want and you'll know how to maintain it once you get there. Highly recommend that route. Again, totally up to you. I'm down either way, but I'm just I'm going to give you all of the options and I'm going to tell you the truth because I'm not here to bullshit anybody on this podcast or in their own journey, especially if you're paying me. I'm going to tell you the truth because I'm not just here to get you quick results. I don't want you to end up with a body that you love for three days and you can't maintain. So keep that in mind as you are stepping into this journey and you are stepping into. Hopefully, this podcast is helping you just kind of rethink and rewire and stepping into that next version of yourself.

Speaker 2:

This is why things don't work in the past. If you have that self-limiting belief of I can't do this, this isn't for me. I'll never have my dream body. I'll always be big bone. I'll always be overweight. It's hereditary, all these things. Right, I can't stick to a program. I can't lift weights, I can't go to the gym. I can't X, y and Z. If that's you and that's your mentality, you can. You can do this. You're just taking the wrong route. You've had the wrong directions. I keep saying route, route. I don't know Either one. You know what I'm saying the wrong journey, the wrong path. But that's why you've taken the wrong path to get there.

Speaker 2:

It's not that the destination was wrong, it's not that your journey was wrong. It's just that it was wrong for you. Maybe the road was closed on your way there and it wasn't for you. Maybe there was a big storm and you had to turn around and find another way to get there and you had to start over. Maybe, you know, there's something happened back at home and you had to turn back around and you forgot something. You had to pick something up and start again. It's not a big deal.

Speaker 2:

Kind of look at it like that with your journey of what have I kind of not done well in the past? But I keep doing it. I keep taking the wrong way, I keep using the wrong map, I keep trying the same things and it's not working. It's not that you're not working or you're broken. It's that you didn't have the right path. You didn't have the right route to get there and when you got there, you didn't have any sort of a plan to maintain it or to stay there or to enjoy yourself. So that is a reason why, potentially, you could have failed in the past, and it's also a reason why you will succeed going forward, because now you've heard this podcast episode and you can plan better in the future. This is exactly what I do with my one-on-one clients and even my fit clubbers. They can talk to each other and you can send me messages right there in the app and say like, hey, I think I'm ready for a cut, what would my macros be? And I'll send you a message like this is what it would be, and you can either decide if you're ready to do that or not, and I will be honest with you about that.

Speaker 2:

But I think just doing this in a more healthy, more positive, more sustainable, more achievable even way is so beneficial long-term and you don't have to think it's not so stressful, right, even in that longer trip, to get there with the detours, taking the scenic route. It's more fun. You get to chill, you get to slow down, stop and take potty breaks, take a little hike If you see something you want to take a picture of you, pull over and do that. You're not in a hurry, it's fine, right. But once you get there, you still have to know how to maintain it. Either way, once you arrive there, you have to know how to maintain it and usually what you do to get there. You're going to have to do a little bit of that anyways. Once you get there, you still have to do those things to maintain. I personally love the senior group because it's a little more fun, takes a little longer.

Speaker 2:

But I think the more we normalize things, taking a little longer, the better off we'll be. And the more we normalize all of this conversation of just knowing where you're going, knowing if it's realistic, knowing what you have to do to maintain it, then it takes away that up and down of the diet cycle that we so often get stuck in. So ask yourself that question. If you imagine right now you have the body you want, you look at yourself in the mirror, like I said, or you look down at yourself in the car and you're like, yep, this is it, working my whole life for this. This is the body, nailed it. What now? Would you know how to maintain it?

Speaker 2:

If not, let's go back to the beginning, check our map and figure out what is the goal. Do I want to take the most direct route, or the scenic route and route? And then what am I going to do when I get there? And do I need some help mapping this out for me, so that you don't waste three years trying to figure out a path, right, the journey, the directions to get somewhere? That's not even the place you should be going if that place doesn't even exist anymore, right? So let's take a second to kind of figure out our journey and then figure out if it's worth it for one, and then, if it is, you want to maintain it. So let's figure out our journey and then figure out if it's worth it for one, and then, if it is, you want to maintain it. So let's figure out how to maintain it. All, right, I hope that was helpful. Enjoy the rest of your day and I'll talk to you in the next episode.

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, bye.