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I’ve learnt this lesson a couple of times.

It’s a lesson that’s equally applicable to business, relationships and health.

You’ve likely heard the saying: You don’t know what you’ve got till you lose it?

Well, I believe even more so: 

You Don’t Know What You’re Missing Till You Get It.

Almost 10 years ago I bought into the business from hell! Escaping that money haemorrhaging, soul suffocating, relentlessly restrictive existence taught me so many valuable lessons which I cover in one of my fav posts non-succinctly called, Debilitating shyness, big butt serenades, gym floor humiliation and the biz from hell… 4 weight loss lessons: 

It also left me clear on just how non-negotiably important freedom is to me. Vital enough to become my number one value. The state I will chase down as a priority before anything else.

The thing is, I didn’t know just what I was missing until I got it. 

Equally after being single for a long time, when I recently experienced a happy, healthy, supportive relationship I relearnt the You Don’t Know What You’re Missing Till You Get It lesson. Who’d have thought you can experience a relationship where you bring out the best in each other! Where you want the best for each other. Where it’s not a constant, exhausting ego fuelled power struggle!

I certainly hadn’t thought that.

This is absolutely applicable to creating your ideal fit, healthy plant strong body. 

Time and time again I hear from people who cannot imagine having a happy, healthy, supportive relationship with their body. They’re yet to experience it so they don’t know what they’re missing till they get it.

That means they’re less inclined to take the best eating and exercising actions… at least not consistently enough to see results.

If you can relate then I have 3 keys to help you create your ideal fit, healthy plant strong body especially if you don’t know what you’re missing till you get it:

One: Think Of You and Your Body As A Team. 

A supportive, caring partnership. It’s not about beating your body into submission with restrictive diets. It’s too clever for that anyway. It’s about fuelling your body with the best possible whole foods that are nutrient rich, appealing to your stomachs eye and a pleasure to demolish.

I’ll concede that the marketing slapped on many refined foods can be misleading. An easy test to apply to your food is the kitchen bench test. Imagine the food you’re considering giving to your body as a pile of seperate ingredients sitting on your kitchen bench rather than as that prettily packaged sales pitch.

Now ask yourself: If you and your body are a team is that the type of stuff you want to inflict on it?

Two: Focus On Gradual Refinement and Consistency.  

Rather than hoping for one big solution, saviour or secret. The promise of one big solution is sold to us constantly. If it existed everyone would be rockin’ a fit, healthy body.

Sadly the misguided hope of that next one big solution can diminish your resolve to stick with the less appealing approach of gradual refinement and consistency. Worse, each time you put your faith in that saviour or secret that does not work, eats away at a little more of your self belief and in your faith in your ability to judge which really are the best actions to take.

To help keep your focus on gradual refinement and consistency rather than getting caught out by the quick-NON-fix, ask yourself: If I could have the results today of sticking with this action every day for a year – would I want them? 

Generally you know what is the better option. Long term. You’d pick it as the better choice in an instant if you could fast forward to that time 12 months on when you’re enjoying the results.

Three: Acknowledge The Reference Points For Success and Cultivate New Higher Standards With Each Win. 

It’s awesome yet not enough to just acknowledge what you’re doing well. Where possible look at each win as your new standard. The gym is the perfect demonstration. If I lift a heavier weight that is the new weight I’m aiming to get to next time too. It’s not always possible however it’s usually worth a try.

A huge component in creating a fit, healthy body is learning what is best for your body and not accepting excuses.

Again, generally you know what is the better option… even if you’re pretty skilled out reasoning yourself out of results. This is where I recommend imagining what choice the fittest, healthiest YOU would make. Or if that’s a step too far perhaps imagine what choice that fit, healthy person you respect would make. I do this often in business. If I don’t quite trust my own judgement I ask myself: What would the person who already has the results I want do?

To get actionable today let’s revisit Key One: Think Of You and Your Body As A Team.

It’s one of the glaring differences between the people who manage to maintain a fit, healthy body easily and those for who it’s always a constant, frustrating struggle. An ongoing battle. If you feel like you’ve been battling your body – what is one way to prove you’re on the same team?

It might relate to the food you consume, especially that first meal of the day where you set the tone for the day to come.

Or maybe the quality nights sleep you prioritise.

Or even the self talk you engage in so far as your body.

That’s it for this week in Healthification.

A super huge thanks to you for your support and for sharing this week with me.

If you’ve enjoyed this show and gotten value out of it I’d super appreciate it if you pop over to iTunes and leave me a review. It helps other people find Healthification and it really does inspire me to power on with the weekly episodes.

If you liked You Don’t Know What You’re Missing Till You Get It you’ll also like: Fitness v. Health

If you’re yet to share the Healthification love – just click here to zip over to iTunes and leave an honest rating and review. It’d help me out big time. With gratitude, Kate.