Transcript: Talk Nice to Yourself: A Pep Talk for Bad Gym Days

Sometimes you have to be your own biggest cheerleader.

What's up, my movers and shakers? Famous Ashley

Grant here. Welcome to More Movement, Please,

the podcast where I hope to inspire you to move

your body more. Today, I want to talk about cheerleading

and not the kind with pom poms, but the kind

where you actually talk positively to yourself,

where you get excited about the things you're

doing for yourself. When you wait for other people

to acknowledge the fact that you are on a weight

loss journey or you focus too much on external

factors like the scale or even your pant sizes,

it really can demotivate you. It's very, it can

be very defeatist. And so what I want to encourage

you to do today is if you are starting your weight

loss journey, if you're starting your fitness

journey, I want you to just start being your

biggest cheerleader, your biggest fan. Start

talking positively to yourself about what you're

doing. Because what you're doing, even if you're

not seeing progress immediately, it matters.

And it's going to be a long road. That's something

that I've had to learn a lot over this last year,

is that even though I did lose four pant sizes

pretty quickly, my body has sort of plateaued.

And because of some health issues I'm having,

I'm gaining a little bit of weight back. And

obviously, that's not the intention. The goal

was to... get stronger and keep losing inches

and all the things. But if I focus on that, if

I focus on the negative aspects of things, it's

very, very demotivating. It's depressing. It

makes you not want to get out of bed. It makes

you not want to go to the gym. It makes you not

want to try to move your body more. But when

you start focusing instead on the progress that

you're making, the fact that you're even trying,

the fact that you're showing up, that's when

the magic happens. That's when it starts feeling

like, okay, I can keep doing this. I can keep

going. I can keep trying. And the reason I bring

this up and I, it's, it's all related to the

whole transparency thing. When I first started

getting a little bit of weight back and I was

having so much trouble at the gym, I had to kind

of check myself. I had to recognize that I was

starting to get very upset about it and very,

very depressed if I'm honest, because I was so

excited that I was finally doing 10s as my low

weight dumbbells and 20s as my big weight dumbbells.

I was so excited about that, that when I recognized

that I kind of didn't have a choice, I was going

to have to go back to my eights and 15s. I was

really pissed off about it, like hella angry.

And I'm still a little upset about it. And I'm

still trying to go back to my 20s. Like today,

I just left the gym and I was doing the 20s to

try to. just feel better about things and try

again. And I will not lie to y 'all, I was struggling

really, really hard with the movements. I mean,

you know, when Rhonda was doing 10 reps, I was

doing maybe seven, if that. And the truth is,

I was getting upset about it. Even then I was

I was frustrated that I wasn't able to do the

same amount of reps that she was doing. But what

I started to do was change the narrative. I started

trying to focus on the fact that, hey, even though

I can't do as many reps as she's doing. I'm trying

and I'm putting in the work and I'm still going.

And so, again, it's just a matter of focusing

on the positive aspects of things because I get

it, y 'all. It can really, really suck, especially

when you are trying so hard to achieve goals

and it feels like you're not having forward momentum.

It can really hurt. It can really be frustrating.

the more I focus on all the good that's happening,

all the good things. And that's why I'm so excited

about focusing on the milestones and sharing

the fact that I even did work out. Because when

I'm sharing those things, it's not just for y

'all, it's for me. It's me looking at, oh my

goodness, I have this record of proof that I

am continuing to show up. I have this record

of proof that... Every single day, I'm doing

something to move my body. And any day where

I don't have an entry in my calendar of some

sort of movement, y 'all, I get up and move because

I can't stand it when in my calendar, I don't

have movement listed somewhere. And so... That's

how I'm becoming my own best cheerleader is I'm

focusing on the milestones. I'm celebrating the

wins. I'm paying attention to all the good that's

coming out of what I'm doing because every time

I focus on that stuff, that's when I get more

excited to work out. That's the big takeaway

I want you all to have today is if you are on

a weight loss journey, even if you're just getting

started, celebrate every single win. Celebrate

the fact that you got up and you got dressed

and you went to the gym. Celebrate the fact that

you got up and you went for a walk. Celebrate

the fact that you are trying to lift a dumbbell

for the first time or that you're doing a Zumba

class or that you're doing a spin class or that

you are walking your dog just a little bit further

or even if you're just parking further away from

the gym. door to the grocery store or whatever

it may be, if you're putting some sort of effort

into moving your body more, I want you to celebrate

that today. Give yourself a round of applause.

Give yourself a bear hug. Give yourself a pep

talk and talk about how awesome it is that you're

putting in the effort. Because even if no one

else acknowledges it, you're the person that

you have to live with every single day, all day.

And so you might as well be kind to yourself.

You might as well focus on everything you're

doing that is good for you. And the more that

you focus on those wins, those good, positive

energy things, the better it's going to feel.

Onwards and upwards, my friends. Have you worked

out today?