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Hey, it's Turo here, and welcome back to the fit me Turo fitness podcast. And today I want to talk something about that almost nobody celebrates, but it might be the most important skill in your whole health journey, and that is maintenance, not weight loss, not New year, new you just not losing what you already worked so hard for, because we are in the time, at that time of the year where it's dark, almost all places it's busy, there is food everywhere, and your brain is already whispering to you that I'll be good in January. I will start again after Christmas. It's not even worth trying now. And if that sounds familiar, this episode is for you, because I want to show you how to treat December as maintenance season, a month where success is not perfection, not big weight loss, but holding your line with simple habits. So you start next year proud of yourself, instead of feeling like you are starting from zero again. So we will talk about what maintenance actually looks like in a real life, why it's a skill, not a failure, and four simple and main maintenance anchors you can use in December, and some real stories from my clients, so you see what this looks like in a real life. All right, let's jump in. So first, I want to say this clearly, maintenance is not you failing. Maintenance is you winning? Because most people think only in two modes. Number one is that I'm on plan, and it means that I'm being good, or then you are off plan, and it means that I'm a failure. There is no middle, and that's a problem, because life has a seasons. You have seasons where you have more time, you have more mental energy, you have less stress, and it's actually realistic to push harder. And you will also have seasons where work is crazy. Kids have have events every weekend, there are Christmas parties, travel, family stuff, and trying to die at heart only makes you feel like a failure. December is for most people, it's not, it's not a fat loss season, but it can be a maintenance season, and the maintenance season is where a lot of my clients actually grow the most. They learn to trust themselves. They see they can handle messy weeks and they don't do undo months of work in three to four weeks. So today I want you to try a new thought. Instead of, I must lose weight in December. What if your success is in December? I keep myself in my lane and don't drift too far away. Because this is in a it's a I have a couple funny stories about this, as I have been doing group coaching for past 10 years, working online for seven, eight years. And December is traditionally the hardest month for so many people. It's the month where there are always a lot less people than usually in other months in my group coaching and people are just that it's that I believe that it's that all or nothing mindset there is like for various reasons, like what I mentioned earlier, so many events, you think that you are now. There is that there is no point you have been already. Maybe you have been sick. There is so many events during that month that there is, it's there is literally less time and and then it causes that you are like that. Or what is the point? If I can't work out every week, or couple times per week, or whatever number you tell to yourself, what is the point even trying? And then you are already kind of telling to yourself that January, it will be the month, it will be the time when I will start. And there is this one skill of that maintenance, what is actually something? Because most people, they have, they have a goals, fat loss, goals, weight loss goals, and they think that if I can't make progress, if I can't lose weight at this time, what is the point even trying? But what most people are forgetting that there is so many different ways of progress. Progress is. Is that where you should compare yourself where you were last year? What happened last year or two years ago, three years ago, at this time of the year? And if you gained 345, kilos, what is kind of normal two years ago? And what about if this year you are able to gain only two kilos or maintaining what you already have? That is actually progress? It sounds stupid, but if you really think that is what actually progress is, and especially if your goal is to lose weight, if you never practice how to maintain it, because most people think that you know you have this number on the scale or or whatever goal you have in your mind, and then you are just that now you get there. But then, if you have never practiced the skill how to actually maintain it, how the hell are you going to be able to do it. Then after you just think that, okay, then I just maintain it, but it's a skill, what you need to practice. And this is when I message several times a week, sending messages, asking questions for my online coaching clients, especially most of clients, they have real struggle at this time. And for me, and what, what I, what I did, also for my clients, is, is we, we might do things little bit differently, not aiming for the normal amount of workouts, not aiming for finishing workouts, but just proving the point of being consistent, showing up. I personally did today. Morning, I was thinking about it long. When I was doing my strength training in my basement, there was a three degrees so almost minus decrees, and you can imagine how cold. It's not, it's not. It wasn't tempting to go to do my workout, but I and I already wanted to skip it, but then I told to myself that this is my non negotiable event. I have put it to my calendar. I don't have any other appointments, tasks. What I should be doing. This is my priority, and all I need to do is to get there. So I went there, I said, I told to myself that I will do only one exercise, and after that, if I feel like quitting, I will quit. And it took a while, honestly, to get things going, but and to get that even that first exercise done. But once I did it, I said that, okay, let's go one more, one more, and one good way. What I what I found for myself and for some of my clients, is great thing to is to to do, is to try to variety things and do things what you haven't done recently, too much. So it's not always the same. It's something like little bit new, maybe working towards different goal for me, personally, I work towards like, it's a more kind of, like, not traditional weight lifting or strengthening exercises. It's more kind of like weighted mobility stuff, doing like a complex like a snatchies with the one arm doing adding mobility, work with those strength exercises and that kind of programming. It's kind of exciting. It's not that exhausting. It doesn't feel that hard. It's kind of learning new skill, and that keeps me that helps me personally, working toward different goal, like increasing my mobility and at the same time, learning new exercises. What I haven't been doing lately a lot, and that is because I know that I should be doing more mobility work. It's at turning soon 44 it's crucial part of my well being that to avoid pain axes and and this is for me, at this time of the year when everything is harder, that's the best time of doing it, or I feel little bit more excited to get to my cold basement to do my strength training when I have something exciting waiting for me and other other example is because it's it's not, it would be awesome. Like I funny story i i train some younger athletes. They are 12, 1314, years old, and one of the girls I worked mum just texted me that her daughter was almost starting to cry because she was in she had a dentist appointment and she was in danger of missing workout. And that was I was like that, oh, maybe, maybe there is. Something like it should be exciting. So if you are excited to get work done, you don't mind if there is like, it's cold, it's dark, whatever, but you are excited doing that work, what is waiting for you, then you have done something right? So instead of aiming doing everything the most optimal way building programs for the best possible thing at this time, what is, for me, what is better is that it excites you some way, and what makes you then, if that helps you to stay more consistent, you have already reached a lot. And of course, you know you can always try to optimize everything and have the perfect plan for everything, but if you can't get yourself get to do that work, what is the point of having perfect plan, if consistency isn't there? So it's just an example, what could be just an idea of how to keep yourself a little bit more excited of doing that work, what you know you should be doing. So because that, I want to make it even more concrete. So what is, what is how that maintenance then actually looks like, and this is not some Instagram version. So because maintenance, it doesn't mean that you are eatingly Perfectly clean, or you are tracking every gram, or you are training six days per week. You are. It doesn't mean that you are. You have to say no to every desert and every drink maintenance. It looks more like this that your weight goes maybe little bit up, maybe little bit down, but stays in a small range. Your clothes are feeling about the same, and your basic habits stay alive even when the life is busiest, messiest that it is most likely in whole year. So for the most people I coach, I tell them it's if over December, if your average weight stays within about one to two kilos, if you keep doing some strength training. If you keep starting some strength training, I would correct it. And if you keep walking, if you don't slide back into all or nothing, you did great, because that's a win, and you you shouldn't, because if you start to be like to most of us, even it shouldn't be like that. Way you compare what many other people are doing, and if you compare what many other people do, they stop training, they eat and drink everything. They step on the scale in January and see plus four or five kilos, they feel ashamed, and then start another extreme diet, so you don't need that cycle anymore. Maintenance season is about saying, I might not be, I might I might not make huge progress now, but I'm going to take I'm not going backwards either. So because that is the hardest part to understand. It. It's it's for the most people, if you are someone, we did it with Sylvia a couple years ago. She was on a fat loss phase, and then kind of hit, hit the plateau. There was no progress, as it used to be. And then, because at some point you have to take some also diet break, using maintenance to learning, like for the reasons I mentioned earlier, to practice the skills how to actually maintain your weight and to get out of plateau, you have to go to maintenance. You have to allow your poly body to eat more. And this time of the year is the best time to practice it so it gives you more freedom, more flexibility with your food choices and adding with the purpose, with the meaningful purpose, calories, food freedom. It gives so much mental freedom to be able to do actually things, what you enjoy more, and also it gives you chance, and then that later on, losing fat becomes, again easier, because if you think that your What is your maintenance mindset, so 80% it's already plenty. So because I talk a lot about that 80% consistency in a maintenance season, this becomes even more important, because you don't need 100% perfect weeks zero sugar, zero alcohol, or seven days of 10,000 steps. Is what you actually need, is that enough good choices often enough to keep you in the game, thinking of it like this, that if you hit 80% or even 70 of your main habits over and over again, week after week, your body will be fine. You might you might not lose a lot of weight, but you you won't lose muscle, and you won't feel totally out of shape. And starting again in January, will feel 10 times easier. And because I want you to imagine two versions of you in January, version A is that didn't move much, ate everything, drank a lot, feel slow, heavy, ashamed, and version B is that had some big meals, enjoyed Christmas, but kept walking, did some workouts, had protein most Days, slept as well as possible. Clothes are similar. Energy is okay, confidence is still there, same holidays, but very different, feeling version B, this maintenance season done well. So now let's get practical. So I want to give you four anchors you can use in December, not 25 rules, just four. So if you keep two or three of these alive most weeks, you will be in a good place. Anchor one is strength training. And what I like, I said to myself, for me, my personal role is to get started two times per week. So of course, the goal is to do two full body sessions per week, 30 to 45 minutes. But I'm even that central to myself. I have learned from my past mistakes that now I don't promise myself to finish my workout all what I promised myself I have to get started my two sessions. Intention is, of course, doing that 4040, minute session, what I usually do only two times. But even if I don't get it done, because it's for me, it's so easy to find myself talking myself out of doing that work what I know I need to be doing. So instead of promising that I have to finish my workout, I promise only good to get started. And what happens most of the times I will finish it. Sometimes I will skip some exercises, but at least I get decent workout done, and most of all, I keep my consistency up. So why that is then? So that strength training is so important. It keeps your muscles, it keeps your joints happy, keeps your metabolism higher, and mentally, it reminds you, I'm still that person who trains, who keep promises I make to myself. And it doesn't matter where you are training. It can be at the gym, at home with dumbbells or pants or even body weight. So if you use simple structure, it could be exercises. You could be choosing one squat lunges, one hip hinge. Could be dead lifting. Hip thrusts, good morning. One push exercise like push ups, bench presses, one pull rowing, pull downs and one core exercise. If you do that twice a week, you are doing already a lot more than most people do. Anchor two. I like to keep my steps. So pick a good enough number in December, instead of aiming for 10 steps every day, choose a number that is realistic. Maybe, maybe it's 6000 maybe 7000 for some of you, it's 8000 so I want you to ask yourself, what is the number I can hit most days, even in stressful weeks? And that becomes your maintenance step goal. So the here is a one great example. Ina had weeks with a less gym time, but she kept her steps alive. She walked during the breaks, took stairs, did little walks in the evening. And when things weren't perfect, her, her body and mind stayed in a much better place in a maintenance decisions. Steps are your safety net, anchor three is protein at two meals per day and don't over over complicate nutrition. December be you don't need to track everything instead of use this simple rule, so two meals per day with the clear protein source. For example, it could be breakfast, adding Greek yogurt skewer eggs or cottage cheese. Lunch, chicken, fish, tofu, beans and. Dinner, some meat, fish, lentils, or some other high protein options. Why that is so crucial. So protein keeps you fuller, it protects your muscles and helps cravings stay lower. So because you can still enjoy Christmas cookies, but if you have a solid Meal, Meal Plan, weak protein and some fiber before you are less likely to eat so much less those that good stuff. So that is always. My favorite rule is, instead of trying to take something away, make sure you have enough those what you need the most protein and fiber. Then anchor four is sleep sailing. So it's in December. We often sleep less because there are late dinners. You have events, you have maybe more screen time. You have a lot of stress. So instead of aiming that perfection, so what I what I would recommend you to do is to pick a goal and aim only two or three nights per week where you get around seven, eight hours of sleep, you are turning off screens a bit earlier, and maybe do you do few deep breaths or read before going to bed? And that's it. Why that is so important. So goes sleep is directly linked to hunger, cravings, mood and willpower. When you sleep better, everything else gets easier. So ask yourself each week, can I protect two to three nights my recovering as my recovery nights? And if yes, that's maintenance done well. So let me give you quick, two quick stories. So there was a there was a client, Evelyn, and she had a lot going on. It was, this was last year. There was new routines, new work, traveling, busy days. And we didn't aim for perfect, fat loss in that season. We aimed for maintenance with good habits, daily, steps, two to three workouts when possible. She even missed one full week because she was being sick, but she got back on track after that missed week and we had a simple food structure. Some weeks, her weight didn't move much. Some weeks it went even up. But what changed was her mindset. She started to celebrate being consistent. She noticed how much better she felt when she walked and she she saw that good enough weeks still moved her forward over time, and that's maintenance season, working in a real life. Then there was a other client, Gabriel, and she had imperfect periods, but less damage. So they she was in a in a time of or season of life where life was messy and there was a lot of stress from work, because in her working company, they were putting people out. So there was even added stress. Then there was imperfect food to lot of events, and there was less training. So in the past, those weeks would mean big weight gain, lot of shame, and now, because she had her anchors, she didn't gain as much as before. She still gained a bit, but less than two kilos, and she got back on track a lot faster, and she started to see herself differently. She she told me something like like this, if I remember correctly, that's two years ago, but she said that even if I'm not at my dream weight yet, I can do so much more now than before, I feel fitter in my real life, and that's the power of maintenance, not being perfect, but not collapsing either. So let's build your simple December plan right now so you can even pause and write this down later. So ask yourself strength training. So how many strength based strength sessions feel realistic for me? In December, two is too little. Four might be too much. Is too realistic? Write it down. I will do two full body sessions per week, or whatever number you decide to take by. Don't think your perfect weeks, think your messiest weeks would feel realistic, and this could be, I personally love to use this week by week when I look on Sunday evening or Monday morning my weekly schedule. So some weeks it's going to be one session. Some weeks it's going to be three. But most weeks it's going to be two weeks, two sessions per week. So steps, same thing. What is my realistic step? Goal? Is it 6000 7000 8000 or I like to use it weekly goal, like, if it's 6006 times 6000 times seven, it's around 42 or it's 42 you could set 40,000 if it's 7000 it's 50,000 steps 8000 it's 55 so choose one number. Write it down, and you are done with bullet point number two. Number three is protein. In which two meals can I focus on most protein? Or what are meals I have most where I have where I can decide where I have more protein. For me, it's breakfast and dinner. Maybe for you, it's breakfast and lunch is lunch and dinner. Decided and write it. I will hit protein at these two meals, and what is then good protein or depending on your goal. But I would recommend to you to get in your main meals, 2530, grams protein at least, and those, once you hit those, you have your minimum requirement achieved sleep. Which two to three nights per week can I protect for better sleep? Maybe it's Sunday and Monday, maybe it's Wednesday and Friday, and circle them in your mind or in calendar. That's your maintenance season blueprint. It doesn't look Impressive, impressive on Instagram, but it's incredible, incredibly powerful over time. So that's why I feel like for me, personally, I have been feeling so much skilled for myself. I put a lot of pressure. I keep promises, what I make for myself, and I honestly, I haven't been one thing I haven't been doing lately, what I know I should be doing a lot more is to post consistently in social media, in my Instagram, Facebook page, everywhere. But at this point, there are so many things going on in my life in person, workouts, my wife wasn't well for the past week, and took care of her. So it's it was. I made a decision that at this time, I'm not even trying. I have to something. You have to live away. And I decided that I keep doing my podcast. I keep occasionally post some stories, but some main posts I haven't been doing as much as I would love, because if it's away from something I would I would need to reduce my own training. And at this point of my life, I don't want to start sacrificing my own health, and that is probably for you. Also, at some point you have to selfishly plan things and set your priorities. What is your priority? Is it? Of course, you might have different priorities than I do, but for me, business is not as high priority at the moment or or it is, but social media isn't that high priority. I keep my own health time for myself higher priority as as posting something to social media, and that is like for me. It those. It might change at some point, but at this point of my life, my career, my I have to set these priorities and keep them, because if I don't do it, if I start to skip my own health, how the hell I should be able to take care of someone else, if I, if I'm not able to maintain my good health, my energy, and that's just an example, what is where I am and what I have been doing, but, and of course, I know It, it's it's going to be in month of December. It's going to happen to me, and I believe it will happen for most of the people, because that you will have the days where you will overeat, you will drink more than you should, and you will skip your steps. You don't train. But that's normal, because. We are all human, and what matters when this happens is the next day. And what I love to use for myself, for my clients, is a simple a day after plan, and it's starts always a big, big glass of water in the morning, one solid, protein rich meal for me, that is always my breakfast. Doesn't matter how much I have eat. How if I'm feeling full from day before, but I start my day with protein rich meal. I aim to get my steps. I aim to go to bed a bit earlier. There is no punishment. I'm I never tell someone to do some extra cardio, cardio, to burn it off. Just calm, being calm, and doing what I call grown up, reset, reset. So you don't need to be perfect. You just need to come back and and that is the message, what I want you to remember from this session. So this is, this was episode for today, and I hope you found something valuable, what you can implement and practical what you can implement into your life. So thank you so much for listening and remember you are not behind. You are just getting started. Have an amazing day and talk soon. You.