#69 Stop Forcing It and Find What Feels Good w/ Suzana Lebrecht
I used to have a difficult time with health and fitness. Growing up, when my mom wasn’t cooking hearty Filipino food at home, I would eat fast food, canned food, frozen dinners, you name it.
Nutrition was never a topic of conversation or concern. I ate for pleasure and in excess.
When my eating habits caught up to me in my 20’s I noticed that I didn’t like the way I looked or how I felt in my body. My energy levels were low and it impacted my work, my relationships and my social life. I was not the person I wanted to be.
Whenever I felt motivated to “get healthy”, I would do things like restrict my calories (sometimes as low as 1200 calories 😳). I tried Keto, Paleo, Atkins, the Zone, juice cleanses, water fasting and intermittent fasting.
Whatever the new diet fad was, I tried it.
I would go all in, buy the books, the nutrition bars, the packaged foods, the urine testing strips and be so meticulous about it that it took over my life.
For weeks straight I’d work out everyday and eventually burn out.
What I didn’t realize during my seasons of yo-yo diet and exercise was that the methods I used to change my behavior were too intense and abrupt. I was very hard on myself. After just one bad meal or missing a day in the gym I would say to myself, “Screw it!”, and quit everything after experiencing a small bump in the road. There wasn’t any room for failure.
A couple of years ago I realized that this was a faulty pattern of mine and decided that I would stop. Because nothing worked, no matter how much I tried.
And you know what happened after? Every fitness goal I tried to reach over the years only happened AFTER I stopped trying:
My non-restrictive diet includes healthy (and delicious!) food that was easy to make
My workouts became fun, enjoyable and consistent
My energy levels increased
My clothes fit better and I actually have abs!
You know what my secret was?
I told myself to find what feels good. That’s it. No forcing or trying too hard anymore.
The trick is: if something feels good, natural and sustainable, it’s going to be easy to be successful.
In my interview with Suzana Lebrecht, creatrix, mentor and women’s coach, she shares her personal story of how she followed what feels good, even if it didn’t make sense to design a life that feels natural, flowy and joyful.
She has a background working in corporate in Brazil and felt chained to her 9-5 job with no way out. She eventually got through and found herself in the process. Since then, she’s lived in different continents and is now settled in Bali where she creates retreats, art and experiences inspired by energy and nature.
Do you feel like you’re forcing things to happen in your life?
What would happen if you let go a little?