I Have an Important Question for You...
How often do you take a look at your progress?
As a coach, this is a practice in which I engage clients (and myself!) regularly. Motivation, as we tend to think of it, is fleeting; the get-up-and-go feeling doesn’t last forever. Taking stock of where you’ve been, and where you’re going, is a reliable tool to use when you’re wondering why you keep putting one foot in front of the other day in and day out.
That being said, I am a Health at Every Size-aligned coach who does not coach intentional weight loss, so my progress-tracking methods are a bit unconventional, as far as fitness goes. Rather than lining up numbers to compare and contrast, I prefer to ask more open-ended questions, leaving space for each client to discuss what they see with the goals that matter to them.
A goal in my practice that matters to me is to constantly widen my lens to improve the services I offer. That may sound quite vague, but I didn’t always hold the values I do in my business. Looking back on my decade in fitness, I notice some things I now wish I could undo:
I remember clients whose goals I'd assumed, based on their appearance.
I remember thinking, "if I can do it, so can you!"...at 23, able-bodied, with no kids (or even a dog, at that point!), in a gym all day long.
I remember plugging #noexcuses and #teamnodaysoff.
I remember counting calories, macros, minutes of cardio, sets lifted per body part, and telling my clients that was the only way to, “get results.”
I remember failing to consider how race, body size, gender identity, sexuality, ability, class, or religion could affect a person’s experience in the gym (or body image, or self-regard).
Taking a progress inventory might not always feel great. Sometimes, growth is uncomfortable — especially as the process isn't linear. It waxes and wanes, going back and forth like a dance. Just looking at where we’ve been before isn’t always the most inspiring thing, and when there aren’t hard-and-fast rules or numbers to see the progress to which we’ve been conditioned to look, open-ended questions can lead us down a slippery slope to shame.
In these sorts of progress checks, I also ask clients to discuss where they are now, and what they’re grateful for, in order to nudge our perspective back to the part that isn’t always obvious during growth: we’re moving. On the go, to different pastures, roads that feel more like home.
In the last few years, so many things (all of the above) have changed, as I’ve listened and learned. So to practice what I preach and to make things clear, I'd like to welcome you (perhaps again) to this space:
💫 Hi, I'm Steph, and I don't believe you need to lose weight to be loved and respected.
💫 I won't insinuate you're a failure if you've skipped a workout or abandoned a diet (in fact, I encourage both, often).
💫 I won't tell you my "binge" is a side of French fries or a milkshake I need to “work off;” I've eaten until my stomach hurts (more than once) (and it was worth it).
💫 I don't have "one weird trick" that will change your life.
💫 I don't think you need a new cellulite cream, or a FasciaBlaster, or an endless stream of plyos to make your body "better."
💫 I can't confidently say a new fitness program is the right answer for you, and I know a diet is not: I believe you already hold the answers inside yourself, and what’s being sold as “wellness” can never ultimately give them to you.
💫 I think your body is a powerful tool for you to get to know yourself (nothing more or less than that).
Most of all...
💫 I know that when you allow yourself space to explore, and to discover and choose exactly what you want for your body, you're being political, especially if you live in a marginalized body: you're reclaiming space in ways that you're conditioned to believe are not for you.
How about you? As we head into the holiday season, which can often be full of reminders of what we didn’t get done this year, what’s one (or more!) significant way you’ve made progress in the last few months?
xoxo,
Steph
PS- if you're looking for guidance in your fitness routine, help with your relationship to movement and/or food, support with your body image, or any (or all!) of the above, I have room to take a few new clients. I offer a variety of services, all on a sliding scale (no questions asked). Fill out an application here, or comment below to get started or learn more.
