Shrink Your Waist by Growing This…

Fitness + Wellness

Feb 17

In conversations about why they are failing or struggling in their fitness and wellness – or not where they want to be – the vast majority of women tend to focus first on diet and exercise.Do you think you need to take away food and add exercise? Did you know there’s another step that is even more important to reaching your goals? Yes, I am happy to lead you through the best workout you can ever imagine. Yes, I can guide you on your food choices that will result in feeling – and looking - better.Diet and exercise are certainly important. However, there are so many other important factors that will get you your best wellness and fitness. My campaign is to help you understand them.Today’s key component of a wellness program is something that works 100 percent of the time. It is not only important: it is essential. Without this, your plans will fail. Maybe not tomorrow, yet eventually.

Are you the 45-65 year old woman struggling to find your fitness? Are you really still fighting the scale and the read-out on your wearable?

So what is it?

• It is the factor that motivates you to start – or not – a program.
• It is the factor that leads to sticking with the program or “giving up.”
• It is the factor that keeps you interested in getting better, or not.

It is your outlook on life, your thoughts, your beliefs and what we call a mindset.It is well known in psychology and behavior-change circles that if you believe you can achieve something, then you will start the new behavior. When we innately do not believe, we tend to not start a new healthy behavior.Statements like those below are the start to a beautiful journey.

• “I believe I can be as fit as I want.”
• “I believe I can start and stay with a new program and see lasting results.”
• “I believe I can take stock of my diet, my sleep, and my stress and make necessary changes to get healthy – for good.”

…get the point?

The Start is the Key to you Making Progress!

Next you take action. Once you’ve started, it means you’ve acted on those beliefs. Once you’ve acted, you make progress. Once you make progress, you continue to make progress. Yet, you have to start with the belief you can do it. Another reason I quit being (just) a personal trainer and decided to full-time work on my crusade to teach women my superior approach to wellness was a result of my research – and my own journey to build - a growth mindset. I too lacked confidence and punished myself for poor food (and drink!) choices. I questioned if my stress was really the culprit to my extremely poor body image. When I realized my stress was the trigger for my poor choices and the toxic loop of deprivation, overworking my body, and fitful sleep, I made change. Yet, only after I found my own growth mindset.By developing a growth mindset, I overcame my preconceived notion in my head, and you can too, and overcame exercise, diet, stress, sleep, mindfulness limitations. It created success at pretty much anything, including my interminable war-with-myself to get in shape.Another way to view this is to change your personal identity so you talk to yourself in a way that is totally triumphant and will succeed in your wellness. For example, I am a person who thinks positively, trains five days a week, places great value in always improving myself, breaths deeply with stressful moments, and who eats nourishing foods. It is how I identify, not just who I want to be.When we have awareness of our thoughts, we have the choice to change our actions. You can too. Yet you must start with a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset.

Here are some examples of a fixed mindset:

“I am too overwhelmed with food prep and what it takes.”“I’m too busy.”“I have to eat every three hours or I’ll be “hangry.”“I cannot change my stress. Others around me dictate my actions.”“I can’t _____.”“I don’t have to grow at _____. I’m already good at it.”

And now a growth mindset:

“I can always learn new skills.”“I am in control of me: no one else is.”“It may be my stress or lack of sleep that is (making me crave 4pm sugar) preventing me from making progress.”“I am in control of my skills and actions.”“I can do __________.”

Belief leads to action. Action leads to growth. Period.

As you begin to understand the fixed and growth mindsets, you will see exactly how one thing leads to another—how a belief that your qualities are carved in stone leads to lack of progress. Conversely, you will understand how a belief that your (new) qualities can be cultivated leads to a host of different thoughts and actions, taking you down an entirely different road.Next week, I’ll talk about the best way to apply this growth mindset and change your beliefs so that you can make more progress and see the results you want.I currently have very limited space in my Concierge Wellness Program. You can schedule a free consult with me to get more information. Or if you want to get started right away by joining our Foundations Online Wellness Program or our highly popular Fitness + Foundations Program, click here.

Alexandria Wellness

Adrien Cotton

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ADRIEN COTTON believes the greatest gift you can give to yourself is the gift of wellness.

After serving in high-leverage professional roles, including being one of the youngest Communications Directors in the US House of Representatives, Adrien pivoted her career focus to helping clients capture their strength in all areas of life. An accomplished speaker, entrepreneur, corporate wellness educator, menopause expert, and wellness coach, Adrien has proven success in designing and implementing innovative wellness programs.

With a Master’s in Public Policy from Georgetown University, Adrien sharpened her professional skills by working with individuals from all walks of life. This unique background allows her to tailor her services for each and every client, with optimization and long-lasting success as the goal. Her effectiveness is rooted in a solid foundation of growth-oriented principles, a proven history of helping clients transform their lives, and a deep level of relatability gained from her personal wellness journey.

Since founding her wellness enterprise, Adrien leverages her fitness and wellness background to guide people from a state of giving up to a place of proactive self-care. Her work extends beyond nutrition and exercise, emphasizing lifestyle and high-impact areas of focus visually represented in her Wellness Wheel. Incorporating strategies in stress resilience, sleep, calendar management, mindfulness, and menopause, she’s helped transform hundreds of lives.

Adrien is living her mission to support clients in shifting their mindsets and helping them leverage small habits that yield lasting results.