It AWAYS matters!

 

No matter how old I get, what I see when I look in the mirror always matters. Like everyone else, it gets harder and harder as we age. None of us gets a free pass from that. We all have to do whatever it takes to get our mind back in the game. It doesn't matter what season of life you are in, or if you are taking two steps forward, one step back, two steps back, one step forward, one step back, and randomly on and on. What matters is that IT ALWAYS MATTERS!

I'm not yet where I want to be. I've crept back and forth with progress this year, but I'm never giving up. I'm still at a healthy weight, but I still want to reduce body fat while staying healthy and strong with nutrition and workouts. What I eat matters and all my supplements matter. Everything I take, I know the reason and I remind myself as I'm dispensing them; each one as I put it in a cup, I say what it is and what it improves in my body. It's repetitive, but it reminds me why I do it. It reminds that I should do it even when I want to say, "Oh I'll skip today, I'm too busy!" Fine. Do I really want to give up the benefits it gives my body and how it improves my quality of life. No. Not worth quitting. It's worth the sacrifice of something else that has nothing to do with my health (since we do have to budget nutrition in).

I love that I have a workout setup and workouts that I can follow, even if I write one up myself or follow a program. As long as I DECIDE to follow the workout and DO SOMETHING every single day that I can.

Yes, as Mina just said in her last post. Life is hard.

I recently read Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life and it was such a reminder to me about how life is hard and there is no shortage of suffering. He gave some quotes on the statistics. It reminds me of how when I was young, I often thought that I was alone in my suffering, or that it was unique or that I was unusually stricken with such bad luck. Now I look back and I've seen so much suffering in other people as well as experienced many of my own crisis seasons of life, many with Randy especially when we were first married nearly 35 years ago.

There is no shortage of suffering and crisis in the world. There is no shortage of problems that pop up that need to be solved.

Last week Randy and I repaired the posts under our back deck that was built when the house was built about 35 years ago. Decks are only required to last 15 years. The posts were rotted and not only do they hold our back deck, but part of the roof overhang. Randy was worried about it going into this next winter and the snow load, so we fixed it together.  It just cost us a few materials and our own labor. I'm so grateful Randy is good at fixing things, and that I am able to help! We have a lot of things we need to repair in the next few summers, and it takes a bit longer because we do the work ourselves when we find time. It would be tremendously expensive if we had to rely on others to do the work for us. I am so thankful that we are capable of doing the work, and that Randy is so amazing and fixing things and solving construction and technical problems. I learn so much from him every single day.

This week we had a long day of Sheriff training doing baton drills and recertifications as well as arrest and control techniques and defensive tactics. It was a long day of physical activity and concentration. But the early morning that day a bear tried to break into our enclosed front porch where it wanted the cat food for our cats that stay in there at night. Great. We heard noises and finally figured out we had trash all over the driveway and a broken window where the bear tried to break in. It seems the sound of glass breaking might have scared it. The screened window had been open. The screen was ripped to shreds and mangled, and the sliding portion of the window was bent where the bear tried to pull it out and of course that broke the glass.

At 4 am before our long day of training we were cleaning up glass shards and vacuuming up the small pieces and figuring out what we needed to do to solve this problem in the future.  We were going to have to make some changes to our security as well as change some daily habits to make that happen.

See, there is always a problem to solve. Some of them pop up randomly.

At the same time, we recognize our blessings. It could have been worse. We had just enough time to clean it up, order some security equipment, and get ready to go to our day of training.

It ended up being a really good day of training.

DO SOMETHING EVERY DAY THAT YOU CAN

Last night I went on a walk with Randy. We had finished some work, and I was trying to get myself motivated to do a weight routine, but Randy had the idea for a walk. It felt great and after all I have been through, I still find it a miracle that I can walk! I also find it a miracle that I can work for the Sheriff's department and help Randy with our property maintenance.

 I am still focused on weight training, and I am getting stronger and stronger, and it feels wonderful. It's always hard to get myself motivated, but most of the time I really enjoy it once I get in the groove of the workouts.  I always appreciate the view from my little workout area, and I'm used to taking out the equipment and storing it back in the corner as part of my routine. It's not as convenient as having a dedicated workout room, but I'm blessed to have what I have.

NUTRITION ALWAYS MATTERS

Our calorie intake, protein, micronutrients, and water intake always matter! No matter how much physical activity we do, this cannot be forgotten. The micro and macro nutrients effect our metabolism and body fat vs. LBM (lean body mass).

With the focus on protein and fiber (veggies and fruits mainly for the carbs) I can keep my protein up. Even though 1100 calories may be extremely low for bigger people, I'm small so it's okay some days. Even so, I find that I really struggle with consistency on the days following a low day like this. Therefore, I'm focused on 1300 calories (and more than 100 grams of protein) as a more sustainable deficit. Even after a couple of 1300 days I find I need a day at 1400-1500 calories which is my average TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure). Yes, Life is HARD! But yet, here we are with food available and the choice to eat certain healthy food. Many in the world do not have this option! Randy jokes with me sometimes that a time may come when much of what I'm focused on won't matter, if the world gets crazy and we are not able to get food like we do right now. I get that too. I'll be ready for it even if it's not fun, and my knowledge will still serve me.

Recently someone contacted me wanting my egg white protein custard recipe. It's 9 servings per batch and 116 calories with 20g of protein. I love the flavors and texture of 1st Phorm products, and this recipe does use Level-1 and Collagen Natural with Dermaval.  Many of you support my work with these affiliate links and have done so for years, and even though we are few and small, we are mighty, and I always appreciate all of you with all my heart. I will always do what I can for you. Just let me know, I mean it!

Sometimes I eat egg whites, and sometimes I eat whole eggs. Every day is different, and I'm not stuck in a rut.

I follow a lot of rules in my life that I've done for so long that I don't need the list. I just do it. It's just part of who I am. When I read Jordan Petersons 12 Rules for Life, or recently a post about Sal Frisella's 6 rules for success, it reminds me that the reason my life is what it is right now at age 62 is because I already do these things, and I do my own version but it's pretty much the same thing. I make my own rules! What I do might change slightly with the seasons of the year, and the seasons of life, but the basics are the same and yes, my Abs always matter!!! I don't need anyone's approval about it, and the priority is still in the right place with an indicator of health, and I can still strive for better and in fact it's better for me that I ALWAYS strive for better because according to Jordan Peterson, it's part of what keeps us fully alive, not giving up, and full of our own purpose for being and doing good in the world no matter what the circumstances.

PURPOSE

Even though I'm not on social media anymore, I will write here sometimes. Often, it's so that I can post the link in the 1st Phorm App for my announcements there. I still help people in there. Some people use a lot of features in the App, and some do the challenges, and some just use me as an anchor for knowing they can keep moving forward no matter what:

Some have stayed connected with me for decades, and we all have to find ways to keep our head in the game! I told my friend to make up her own rules! Do 75hard with one workout a day. So what? MAKE YOUR OWN RULES!   So, what if you need a break from exercise to recover once a week? MAKE YOUR OWN RULES! So, what if you are reading college textbooks for a class every day instead of a self-help book? MAKE YOUR OWN RULES!

I always look at what makes others happy and successful, and I make it fit for me. I make my own rules. I have my own "RobertaHard" however many days I want to do it rules. 

Others come back for help, and what wonderful about the message above is THAT SHE SENT ME A MESSAGE so that we can troubleshoot the problem. She has struggled a lot with so many things in her life. 

See, the thing is I've written a lot about what is important in nutrition, but it doesn't happen overnight. You have to adjust as you go along and solve the problems one at a time. If you don't discuss your problems with me in the App, then I'm not able to help you as you go along. Many people don't want to make contact with anyone when they are failing or it's not working. They just want to keep trying on their own, then look to me for approval when they succeed.

That's not how it works best. What really works is grinding through the problems together. That's why the boring monotonous daily lists and weekly assessments, and then sending me short messages ALWAYS MATTER!  

Seasons will always continue to change, in the world, in the weather, in all of life. We have to be able to adjust to it and find ways to keep going.

It's my purpose. To be the best as I can be for every day that I get to keep living, for as long as it lasts to be alive. The message I got recently above meant a lot to me. It is from someone I started coaching almost 2 decades ago when I was a coach in the Venus program. She has stayed connected with me all these years and her message helped me to know that I really am keeping up my purpose. It doesn't matter that I'm not all on social media. or some big rock star. It doesn't matter who sees me and who doesn't see me. I know who I am and what I am about. 

Whoever decides to find me will. Whoever does, I'm here for you.

I really like Jordans and Sals rules because they can be adapted to your specific circumstances. 

SIX RULES FOR SUCCESS

Sal Frisella's 6 rules for success are as follows:

1. Hard Work - Don’t rely on luck! Success is hard. Being in shape is hard. Hell, being out of shape is hard!! You have to choose your hard, day in and day out and lean into it!
2. Patience - If you don’t understand patience, you’ll never win the battle, if you don’t win the battle, you can’t win the war!!! This goes with fitness, if you are not patience, you will give up before you see results!
3. Invest in yourself - If you don’t sacrifice for what you want, then you sacrifice what you want. Don’t think of it as sacrificing your time though, view it as an investment!!! Keep making positive deposits 👊🏼
4. Consistency - Consistency applied to a proper game plan is more powerful than one big swing. You will not hit many home runs in an 8-week challenge. It is consistent base hits that will win you the game!
5. Discipline - Motivation gets you started; it is the discipline to the game plan that will carry you to success!
6. Self-Confidence- Nobody gives it to you, you earn it! You build confidence by following through on your actions listed above. Stop worrying about if other people approve, true confidence is when you don’t care what others think! This is by far the hardest to apply to fitness but arguably the most valuable!

Apply this to the game plan we talk about all the time.

Apply this to your work.

Apply this to your relationships.

I promise you, if you apply these 6 rules to your life, there is no way that your life won’t improve!!!

And when all else fails, the kittens still love me and I'm helping train them to love humans and go to the best homes possible. It makes the world a better place. The picture is our fourth batch of fostered kittens this year. 

What matters to you?

Roberta

Never Settle

Never Give Up

Live Your Dream