The Unf*ck Your Fitness Podcast

171. Redefining 100%: It’s About Effort, Not Perfection

• Kristy Castillo

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Today’s episode is unpacking a truth that sooo many of us need to hear: giving 100% doesn’t mean giving everything we have to everything, all.the.time. 


Unfortunately, we’ve been conditioned to believe that we have to do it ‘all’, perfectly, every single day! But…that mindset only leads to burnout and frustration. 


Whether it’s your workout, your to-do list, or just making it through the day, your energy isn’t always going to be at full capacity, and that’s NORMAL. Life will throw curveballs, and your plans will shift. When this happens, it’s NOT a sign that you’re failing - it’s a sign that you’re freaking human!


Instead of chasing perfection, focus on your unique 100%. Get clear on what truly needs to get done, and what can wait. The rest can flex with your reality!


No…you don’t owe the world all of you, all the time. Let’s start redefining what 100% *really* looks like, so you can give your energy intentionally!!


In this episode, we cover:

  • Reframing what ‘giving 100%’ of your capacity means
  • When the ‘f*ck it’ mentality comes into play
  • Having clarity & flexibility on what you *have* to get done for the day
  • Not forgetting to prioritize YOUR self-care & well-being  


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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? Welcome to today's episode.

Speaker 1:

In this short, sweet, spicy episode, we are going to talk about defining 100%. What does it mean to give 100% and, more importantly, what is your 100 percent? Both of these things are very, very important. A lot of times when I hear someone say, well, I didn't give 100 percent, or I'm not able to give 100 percent, so I might as well quit. Right, I can't be 100 percent spot on with my macros, so macros don't work, they're not for me, I hate them. I'm never doing that again. Or I'm not able to fast, or I'm not able to hit my workout programs. I'm not able to work out five days a week, every single week, so I can't do this particular program. It sucks, I suck. I'll never be able to do this right. I can't stick to something 100%. I'm a failure, end of story.

Speaker 1:

A lot of times when I hear 100%, we think giving 100% effort to 100% of the things that we've set ourself up to do. Hitting macro is 100%. Hitting our steps every single day of every single week and hitting a certain amount of steps every single day, every single week. H a certain amount of steps every single day, every single week. Hitting our water goal, hitting our workouts Every single thing is 100%. And that is where we fail all the time in our fitness journeys, because we have been programmed somewhere to think that we have to do every single thing all the time, and that is not true. To do every single thing all the time, and that is not true. I love the thought and I'm sure that you've heard this, but I just want to kind of drill it in here with this episode If you only have 50% to give of yourself that day and you gave 50% of yourself that day then you really gave 100%. I love that because it really helps.

Speaker 1:

Like, well, I didn't have the right foods at home and I'm going to go get them. I'm not going to use that as an excuse every single day. But today I didn't have the right foods, I failed, I didn't grocery shop, I didn't plan whatever. So this is what I had to work with. I worked with it and I got to 80% of my calorie goal, my macro goal, whatever. Right, I hit like 80% of it. That's all I had. That's all I had. That's all I got and I did it and that's what I gave. So I really gave. I had 80%, I gave 80%. I gave all I had. That's 100%.

Speaker 1:

If I'm feeling like shit and I can't lift a freaking dumbbell to save my life, I'm just weak, I'm tired, I'm crying, I don't know. Whatever the case may be, right, you get to the gym and you're just like I am not feeling this right now. I'm here. So you either start and say I'm going to do this for 10 minutes and if I feel like doing more, I'll do more. I love that little hack. But also, if you're like I am here and I just feel so depleted I feel like I'm going to fall asleep, I feel sick, I feel sad, whatever it is. But you show up and you walk on the treadmill, or you do a little jogging on the treadmill, or you got in the elliptical, or you got on the stairmaster, or you just did some stretching or whatever. It is Very simple. You know you're thinking like man. I really I have to hit this leg day today and I have to set a PR because I'm doing progressive overload and my coach said I'm supposed to increase my weights this week but I just don't feel like I can, like I'm going through something and I'm just really stressed out. I can't do it. All I have is freaking 30% myself today. If you were to rate it right, where do you feel 30%? I have 30% in the tank. And let's say you gave 30%. Maybe you did 10 minutes of a workout and you did 20 minutes of walking and you were like I got to go, like I can't even be here anymore, I'm done. Then you gave 100%. I think that's a really, really healthy way to look at it, because we are not going to be at 100% capacity ever in our entire lives, in every area of life that we have to hit. So if we're talking about just macros, like just our fitness journey, we're talking about workouts. We're talking about your water. We're talking about your walking. We're talking about hitting macros.

Speaker 1:

But along with that in your day comes your job, your significant other, your friends, your family, your kids, your parents there's a lot your dogs, your messy house, whatever it is right the weather, you have something happen at work, you have an event that you have to go to that you forgot about. You didn't get groceries. You have to stop and get those on the way home, whatever it is. There's a million things that you have to go to that you forgot about. You didn't get groceries. You have to stop and get those on the way home, whatever it is. There's a million things that you have to do in a day and there's half a million things that are gonna. That's very dramatic, but you know what I'm saying. There's half a million things that are gonna pop up extra and be like oh surprise, you forgot about me. Well, shit, because I already only have 30% energy capacity to do this 1 million things, and now you popped in another half million things for me to do. I literally maybe should have said 20 and 10, but I'm very dramatic today, so we're going with it.

Speaker 1:

But seriously, if that happens and you're just like, oh, my God, fuck it, that's where the fuck it mentality comes into you. God, I'm a terrible mom, I'm a terrible wife, I'm a terrible friend. I didn't eat right, I didn't hit my workout. I want to just cry. I'm so freaking tired, I'm so mad. That's where everything falls apart and you're just like I suck and I've lost control because you didn't have 100% to give to every single area.

Speaker 1:

It's almost like we try to give 100% to our fitness, 100% to our kids, 100% to our job, 100% to our significant other. God forbid we give any percentage to ourselves, which probably should come first, but we don't have any. We have zero percentage left when it comes to what's in our own tank and maybe some self-love, self-care, filling our own tanks right, so we can run out of energy very, very quickly is what I'm trying to say, because we already start, I think, with a negative percentage. If we're being honest with all the things we try to get in a day, we're already setting ourselves up for failure. And then it's kind of like the day goes on and we get even lower in the tank, and I know we all do that. But I kind of just love the idea of talking to you about this because it makes me so much happier when I'm like okay, even today this happened actually.

Speaker 1:

We just got back from a little trip to LA and I was feeling super tired, so I got my morning stuff done, laid down for a little bit actually laid down, for longer than I had planned. So I got my morning stuff done, laid down for a little bit, actually laid down, for longer than I had planned. So I woke up thinking, oh my gosh, I already had too many things planned for myself to do today. There was no way I was going to get all the things done that I had on my calendar, on my list of things to do today, and then I slept for an hour longer. So I already wasted now another hour. That's where I could have very easily said, okay, now I can't do X, y and Z, so now I suck, and now my day's all screwed up and I'll just try again tomorrow. Fail, fail, fail, fail, fail. I'm going to try again tomorrow.

Speaker 1:

What I did instead was looked at my list and said, okay, what has to get done? And, honestly, if everything had to get done, I'd have been a little screwed, but I would have figured it out. It would have taken me all day, but I would have figured it out. Instead I looked and said what has to be done? What are the top things on my list today? Recording this podcast, checking in with my one-on-one clients, and there's a couple other things, but they were kind of lower, and so I started knocking off one-on-one clients and checking in with them, which I love, and I can very easily spend too much time there too. So I knocked that off my to-do list. I'm knocking this off of my to-do list and there's a couple other things that I've gotten done in there, but I'm feeling better.

Speaker 1:

Instead of just saying, oh my God, I completely suck. I you know just kind of going down this spiral, I thought, no, I have now, instead of 100% of time we're talking about time I only have like 80%, so I need to take a couple of things off my list to be able to spread my time and energy more wisely. I'm probably not going to hit all of my steps today, or I might have to cut my workout a little short, but that's okay, it's a trade-off, it won't happen again tomorrow. I'm telling myself right, I'm going to try to get to bed on time, all these things. I'm just kind of talking myself through. But that's what happens when I feel like it's okay to not give 100 Because I only have 80. I'm going to give 80 today and that's okay. That's all I have, so that's all I can give. And if I give all of that. Then I gave 100. I feel really, really good about it.

Speaker 1:

So I think this is such a good concept, such a good mentality, one of those little things that you can say like this shit is not optional. When you're heading out for the day and you're like I've got to get my workout in, I have got to get my workout in. This shit is not optional, I have to do it. If there's a day where you feel like I am really struggling today, I feel like I have and seriously rate it. I do rate myself and I'm like okay, how much do I have today? If I'm not at 100%, I'm not feeling 100%. You know what? When I say feeling, it's just, it's literally a feeling. If I wake up and I'm like I'm going to have the best freaking day I have, all the time in the world, I'm scheduled, I'm up to date on work, I'm good, I'm 100%, I'm going to kick today's ass.

Speaker 1:

Some days you wake up and you're like nope, three things have like fucked with me already. By 8 am I am. I'm at 50%. That's fine. Give that 50%, though, and do you, can you? You know, do you have five things that only get 10%, or do you have two things that get 25%? Like kind of look at your list and say, okay, what can I not even mess with today? Like what do I literally not have time to mess with today? Or do I have to have a little bit of time to mess with all these things and they're all just getting a little bit of attention. And that's okay. Because when my 100%, if I gave 50%, but that's all I got, when I give all I have to my tasks today and I'm out of energy, like I'm done, then that's okay.

Speaker 1:

Then I gave 100% and I think that just makes us feel so much better, especially us type A kind of people where we have things planned out hour by hour by hour, task by task, person by person. Right, we have things to do and it is frustrating when something happens in the middle of the day. Oh hey, I forgot to do this. Can you? You know kids, can you run this to me at school Coworkers? Hey, can you help me with this project? Oh shit, I forgot to get something for dinner tonight. I have to stop and do that.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I was going to go to the gym, but now it's closed, or I was going to go for a run with my friends after work, and now they're not going, or now it's raining or something's going to happen. So, like, what is your backup plan? But also know that you don't have to do things. Perfect, if you were going to go for a run with your friends after work and they're not going anymore, you can still go. Or if it's raining, I'm not going for a run in the rain. I don't know about you. I'm not doing that, and good for you if you do For me.

Speaker 1:

If I was planning to go for a run with my friends after work and it's raining, I'm going to say I'm going to go to the gym actually. Or I'm going to go home and just work out from home, do some body weight, do some core. I'm going to do anything except run in the rain, basically, but I'm still going to move my body, like I have that time allotted. So I'll figure out something to do. Maybe instead of that time allotment, if I'm not going to run outside, I will move another task up that I can do in that hour and then I'll work out from home in the time I had to replace the other task. You're going to have to do a little shifting.

Speaker 1:

You're going to have to be a little crafty, real smart here, right, but at the end of the day, I don't want you to constantly walk around every single day the rest of your life thinking that you have to give 100% max energy and it has to be perfect. And I've learned through different situations being sick, whatever it is therapy I've learned that I only I probably start out every single day with 80% capacity, if I'm lucky. I don't think I've ever started out 100%. So, and you're probably thinking, yeah, girl, same, if you only start out with 80% capacity, it's going to leave a little bit sooner and I get tired and I get sick of shit and I'm like I don't have it in me anymore. Maybe it's perimenopause. I'm like I am not. I cannot be bothered with that. I'm going to check that right off my list. I'm not doing it.

Speaker 1:

So just keep that in mind. Okay, if you are giving all you can give all your love, all your energy, all your time, all your commitment, if you are just giving 100% of what you have, then that's enough and you don't have to even give all of that away to other people. It's okay to save 20%, 30%, 50%. Okay, that might be a little unrealistic for yourself, right? It's okay to take a day, honestly and spend 100% of your own energy on yourself. It's okay. Just make sure that you're spending that energy where it needs to be spent and also don't be too hard on yourself.

Speaker 1:

I hope this was really helpful. Give your energy where you want to give it. Today and when you run out it's gone and don't worry so much about it. And if you only only have 50% to give, give 50%, call it good and know that you're still worth it. You're still amazing and you've got this. I will talk to you in the next episode. 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.