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Hey everyone, it's Mikki here. You're listening to Mini Mikkipedia on a Monday. And today I'm gonna chat a little bit about some of the practical applications that I speak to clients about almost all of the time, depending on the state they're in in their health journey. And I get the opportunity not only to work one-on-one with people, but also work in the group setting where we have a lot of Zoom calls and we really get to troubleshoot

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some areas that I feel a lot of people struggle with. And with regards to Monday's Matter as a fat loss program, like this program is an eight week program, but of course the reality is for most people eight weeks isn't enough to really establish those habits and behaviors in a way that sets them up so they no longer need to think about it. And in addition to that, you know, it's a fat loss program

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that has both a diet and an exercise component. And for some people, it is really important to just focus initially on that diet side of things. Now, you know how I feel about exercise. It's legitimately the number one tool that we've got in our toolbox for health. If someone could bottle up exercise and sell it, they would be a gazillionaire.

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However, I am realistic in that a lot of people coming into that diet space, particularly if it's been several months, if not years, since they've moved consistently, they won't know how to and their body won't know how to. So like a really good example of this is one of the members of Monday's Matter was a triathlete and he's, you know, several kilos, like multiple kilos overweight.

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30 kilos overweight, 40 kilos overweight. And he used to train all of the time. Like it was one of the things that he did. And lately, maybe over the last year to 18 months, he's been very sporadic with his training and hasn't really been that consistent with it. And so he's jumped on board Mondays Matter, he's now 10 kilos down and he reports that now he's getting back on his spin bike again.

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And I see this a lot with people and in part it's because sometimes when you are so inactive and you are carrying a lot of excess body weight, your cells literally aren't getting the energy that they need to help propel them forward. So even getting off the couch, and Mark Cookazella talks about this, we spoke about it on a podcast even, even getting off the couch is like a zone three or four activity for some people.

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regardless of where you've been in the past with regards to your athleticism, you can absolutely end up there. And this does mean that when you're embarking on a journey to help reverse out of that metabolic state you're in, it can mean that exercise will have to go on the back burner until your body adjusts. in this particular instance, and for a lot of people, what we have to do is lower that insulin level, lower that carbohydrate level,

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and then sort of unlock that key to allow the body to start burning fat as a fuel source again, because prior to embarking on a plan like Monday's Matter, a lot of the energy that was going in, those energy calories, were just being stored as fat tissue, because the cells literally couldn't use it for energy. And that is a result of having these sort of higher glucose levels, higher insulin levels. So when you drop that,

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sort of unlock that key to allow for energy to burn again. The reason why I'm sort of describing this is because you can be really successful in fat loss without exercise, but at some point we have to bring the exercise in. And I know that people know this, but a question that I got in a Zoom a couple of weeks ago from another member really just highlighted to me that just because you know it doesn't mean you're necessarily gonna do it. And one of my

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The which I want to sort of chat to you about is that, you know, this woman, she went from a size 18, 20 down to a size 12 to 14. And the program has really helped her on the food side with meal prepping, but she still can't get herself to exercise even though she knows how much she needs it as a 51 year old perimenopausal female. And this is the thing, like just because you know it doesn't mean you can do it. And she also knows that it's really important

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post or beyond that weight loss period. And I guess this is the thing is that weight loss in of itself has not been super successful to help people lose the weight in the first place. Like I do think it's an important part of that weight loss process, but where weight loss, where exercise really shines is in that weight maintenance phase. So it's allowing you to maintain the weight that you've lost. So this particular person knows she

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She's asking the question, how can I have all of this information in my head about how vital it is? And she has the gym membership and she buys the weighted vests and the dumbbells and kettlebells, but she still struggles to get 8,000 steps a day. She's never liked exercising, but thought that when she lost the weight, she would want to exercise. And paying for programs doesn't seem to help, as I think Darren's are great and much more achievable than she's tried in the past, but she always finds an excuse and just can't quite get it done.

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So she has all day to not do the exercise. And then when it comes to the end of the day, she's like, well, I have to go to bed early. So there, and she, as she says there, it's just another excuse. And it can be really challenging. And I spoke about this in a Zoom with Michelle Matangi, because we were talking all about mindset and Michelle made such a good point. She was, she was the one that reminded us all that, hey, exercise is the thing that helps you keep that weight off. And this is,

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One feature when we've looked at research around people who successfully lose weight and keep it up, exercise absolutely has to become a part of their everyday life. And it's not that you have to train really hard every single day, but you have to move every day. And so if during that weight loss journey, you just do not have the motivation to train, which let's face it, you can't rely on motivation to get you to do anything really, can you? But if you

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if you find yourself really just pulling out of all manners of deals with yourself and you're not exercising, then how can you think about it in a way that actually gets you to do it? And I think that one of the big fears that a lot of people have with losing weight is that they're not able to keep it off. And I tell you what, if you don't exercise, that fear will become a reality. knowing that exercise is so important for weight maintenance, maybe that's the thing that this particular

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person needs to really focus on is that sort of what happens after the weight loss. And she's sort of there now. Another thing I will say is a lot of what the conversation that I just was sort of reading out to you and her question was around, I just don't have the motivation. And the thing is, is that almost nobody feels motivated all of the time. I don't know anyone that is motivated all of the time to exercise. I mean, this morning, it's a Sunday here, the last thing I wanted to do was go out for a run. Literally.

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but there was no question that that was what I was going to do. And this comes, I know, after over 30 years of consistently exercising, I know how good it makes me feel and I've got goals around it as well. It doesn't mean I'm motivated every single time I go out, but it's never a question that I'm not gonna do it. And that does take time and experience, absolutely, but sometimes at the very start of the journey, you just have to make it a non-negotiable and you literally have to

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change your identity to being someone who exercises. So instead of waiting to want to exercise, you need to make it that non-negotiable, just like brushing your teeth is, or just like showering, or washing your hair. God, there's nothing I hate more than washing my hair, but I know that I have to do it. Motivation will always be unreliable and inconsistent, so you have to put habits and structure in place so you're not relying on being motivated. Action always comes before motivation.

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Equally though, you've got to make it stupidly easy to start. If the idea of doing a full workout feels overwhelming, you want to lower the barrier of entry. Start with just five minutes of movement. Commit to one exercise or even a short walk. More often than not, once you start, you'll keep going. And I think this is a really important one because part of it is that we feel we have to commit to 40 or 45 minutes or an hour even if we're going to do it.

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and you really need to remove that mindset and that that's what it takes to be successful with exercise. You actually just have to start with the habit. Nail the habit first and then you can dial in getting good at doing that thing. I feel like a lot of us feel like we already should have the whole thing dialed in even before we've started. So what I feel that this woman and anyone listening to that, they're really struggling as well, if you're

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decided that after work is the time that you're exercising, you need to put your clothes out for exercise. So when you come home, it's just an absolute non-negotiable that you immediately put your exercise clothes on. Obviously, if you do it in the morning, then you do not have all day to talk yourself out of it, but you just need that commitment to put your clothes on and do up your shoes and just commit to five or 10 minutes.

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And what you need to work on then is creating that habit. So that's the thing that becomes the habit, not the 45 minutes of exercise that you're aiming for in the long term. Make just that putting on the clothes, going out for five or 10 minutes, nail that burst and then dial in the rest of it. The other thing to consider is tying it into something that you already do. Like the snap tivity idea, I mean, I really like and

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You could even, if you wanted to, and I actually quite like this idea too, it's like do a little checklist for yourself. So each day you have to tick off doing 30 press ups, 30 squats, and 30 tricep dips or something like that. You don't have to do them all at once either. And they certainly don't need to be press ups on your toes if you can't, or they don't have to be full squats or whatever. But can you tie these little bits, these little snap tivity pieces when you're boiling the kettle?

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Or if you still watch TV that has adverts in it, can you do it in an advert? Can you actually just do it when you're watching TV? I don't know if you watch TV. Can you do it when you're brushing your teeth? Like do squats while you're brushing your teeth. Before you get into bed, can you do press ups? My friend Bella does press ups every time before she showers. Like it's just a non-negotiable for her. So it's working in these little snacktivities and then checking off with yourself. So you're getting this evidence that you're someone who exercises

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because you can see all of the days of the week that you've managed to hit your goal. I think that's so important. And what about, you know, if you're someone who loves listening to an audio book or a podcast, like make, give yourself a reward whilst you're doing the activity. So, you know, I save a lot of the podcasts I love listening to for when I'm out in the long run. And yes, I'm going to do a long run anyway, but it just makes me look forward to getting out.

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on the road, on the trails, because I've got something in my ears that I've got looking forward to listening to and learning. Is there any element of that that you can work into this? And also, you know, when it comes to steps, I mean, I do actually think the more the better, and I'm not speaking to the people who do 16,000 and now they need to do 22,000 or anything like that. But ultimately, where's your baseline at? Like if you are currently only doing 3000 steps,

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then to think that you're gonna go from 3000 to 8000 is unrealistic. So why not just set a baseline, figure out where you're at, and then work on increasing it even by 10 % a week. You'll slowly get to a place where you can actually achieve what you wanna achieve, but again, you've just gotta start that habit that you're thinking about it. Because I do think that you've given yourself almost this impossible situation where

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You've built exercise up in your head because you've yet to do it. And it feels so overwhelming and too much because you know that you have to do strength and you have to do aerobic and maybe anaerobic and you've got to get your steps up and how on earth are you going to fit all of that in? And ultimately you will find a way to do it, but you've just got to release that burden from yourself. And so give yourself a timeframe around it as well. So if you're literally now doing nothing,

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then maybe over the next six months, what you're doing is you're building structures and habits to allow yourself to get to where in your head you think you should be now, but you've got to give yourself time to get there. And also part of this is to do with identity. Like who even are you? Like you are a person that exercises. So you've actually just got to start even there with saying, this is just what you do. You're someone who trains, you exercise.

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And you're not thinking, oh, I need to exercise to lose weight and build muscle because of my perimenopausal body and I want to live a long life. Instead, you're just someone who moves every day and you identify as an athlete. Just think that you're an athlete because ultimately all humans should be athletes. So if you just have that in your head that you are an athlete and then what you need to do is, or what sort of does happen, not almost automatically, but studies have shown that

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If this is how you think, then ultimately your actions and behaviors will align with the person you think you are. So if you identify someone who is an athlete, this will make it easier to put some of these habits and behaviors and structures in place, because that's just what athletes do. Now, I think that the time could be a real barrier. Like if you're already getting up at three or four in the morning, then that does make it challenging. So I do not want to suggest getting up 20 minutes earlier to do something.

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This is where I think snack-tivity is good. But also, I do think that, I mean, if you're getting up at three and four in the morning to go to work, hopefully this means that you're not working until like 5 p.m. in the night. So actually, you do have that time in the afternoon to devote to exercise. So when in your day can you realistically fit in even that 10 minutes of activity to begin with? So having a look at it and keeping a deal with yourself that you do that.

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and being honest with yourself. And it sounds to me in the question when you were sort of relaying to me what was going on that you think you could find time, but you're just using the sort of sleep issue as an excuse. So if that is truly what you're doing, then be realistic about when you can fit it in. And look, it sounds to me like paying money for something is not helping you achieve what you want to. Like you said, you've got all the gear, you've got the gym memberships, you've got programs and you're still not using them.

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Money isn't the best accountability tool for you, whereas for someone else, you know, actually getting a gym membership will be the thing that gets them out the door doing what they want to be doing. So what other accountability system can you put into place that is going to work? So is that having, you know, a step challenge? Is that going to help you having an exercise buddy, someone to sort of check in with at the end of each day that you're doing a workout to report that that's what you've done.

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Is it an app or what about some sort of reward system? Like it is okay to have a reward system, particularly in the first instance when you're not that motivated. And of course, ideally the rewards would align with your goals. And so maybe the reward would be, it be getting your nails done or anything else that makes you feel like it's worth doing the exercise because you're going to get that thing. But certainly checking in with a friend, setting something up.

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even like a WhatsApp group or something, doing stuff on Strava, like all of these things can help as an accountability tool. So that was just like one of the questions and some of the work throughs that we did as part of our Mondays Matter Zoom call. Hopefully that's helpful for anyone else out there who also experiences a similar sort of lack of, you you want to want to do it, because that's a really tough place to be in. But, you know, you don't have to nail it all from the get go and just

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put some structures in place that mean that in six months down the line, you're making good progress. And I think that's, I mean, that's a realistic timeframe and also an awesome achievement. All right, team, just some thoughts. Hope you have a fantastic week. You can hit me up in the DMs over on Instagram @MikkiWilliden. And that's my handle and threads and Twitter as well. Go to Facebook @MikkiWillidenNutrition or head to my website, MikkiWilliden.com.

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you can connect with me there. Alright guys, you have the best week. See you later.