Habits and Hustle - Episode 310: Key Strategies For Your Healthiest Year Yet

Episode Date: January 12, 2024

Welcome to 2024! As we head into a new year, it's the perfect time to reflect on our health, habits, and personal growth.  The journey to your best self is about way more than just physical appearance; it's deeply intertwined with our internal health. This episode delves into the essence of transformation – from the inside out. In this solo episode of Habits and Hustle, I explore the powerful connection between nutrition and weight loss, the importance of consistent habits in achieving lasting change. Plus, insights on rest days, fitness for your mental health, and setting realistic goals.  Thank You to Our Sponsors: Therasage: Head over to therasage.com and use code Be Bold for 15% off OneSkin: Head over to oneskin.co and use code HUSTLE15 for 15% off. Find More from Jen Cohen: Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagement What I Discuss: (03:16) The reality of New Year's resolutions and lifestyle changes (04:08) Forbes' top five resolutions for 2024 and what they reveal (09:08) How to create specific and actionable goals (11:03) Exercise vs nutrition for weight loss (17:01) Why you shouldn’t plan rest days (19:35) The benefits of exploring various fitness regimes

Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it! Before we dive into today's episode, I first want to thank our sponsor, Therisage. Their Tri-Lite panel has become my favorite biohacking thing for healing my body. It's a portable red light panel that I simply cannot live without. I literally bring it with me everywhere I go. And I personally use their red light therapy to help reduce inflammations in places in my body where honestly I have pain. You can use it on a sore back, stomach cramps,

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for 15% off any of their products. Welcome to 2024, everybody. Woohoo! This is our first solo together in 2024. Oh my god, our first solo of the new year. Of the new year, yes. And oh my gosh, what a year 2023 has been. I'm just happy that we're starting a new year fresh and I hope everyone has a happy and healthy new year.

And we're going to first of all, a few little announcements. Number one, my book just came out this month, like I guess a couple days ago, in paperback. So if you have not picked up a hard copy of it, please pick up a soft copy, a paperback, a soft cover. I don't know what the right word is. I think it's called a paperback. Jen loves calling it a leaflet. I think that's great. I do call it a leaflet. You know why? Because it is so small and flimsy as a paperback. It's crazy. It is very leaflighty. It is. It's so light. I mean, you can literally read this in like a good, what, 45 minutes an hour? No, I mean, I don't think like the like just

because the cover is different, that it's like a faster read. It felt so much heftier as a hard cover. And now it's out in soft cover. So that's a little plug. I'm allowed to do one once in a while. So that's my plug for this week for 2024. It's a great book if you want to get bolder and you want to start speaking up, asking for what you want, being more assertive. And I guess basically curating and designing the life you want. Right, Shawnee? Yeah, that sounds so exciting. You've helped me do that a lot over the last year.

It's been great. 2024 is a different Shawnee, guys. It is. You know, Shawnee lost 30 pounds. She did. Last December. How crazy is that? Yes, that was when we started working together.

30 pounds lighter. Yeah, I stayed pretty heavy while I was working with Jenna a lot. Not true at all. She's lost 30 pounds. So I think that is remarkable. And that's a lot of that is all about consistency, building healthy habits, doing something daily, which is why I bring that up. It wasn't just by accident. I'm bringing that up because this episode is, I think, well, I think starting off the new year talking about New Year's resolutions is of course, like everybody else and their

dog is probably doing the same thing. And I want to first start out by saying, I'm not a big believer in just New Year's resolutions because I believe that it should always be a lifestyle and it should be something that you are doing as a lifestyle, building a habit, making it part of your daily routine. And that's how it becomes something that is long lived. And that's how you get real results over real time, versus in January, I'm gonna start doing this. And then what is it, like 75% of people

who make these New Year's resolutions tend to fall off by February 1. Wow, by February 1. Yeah, or like sometimes they say like the end of February, like, like, when people when January 1 hits the gyms are totally full. Right. And then usually by February 15, like by Valentine's Day, they're basically empty again. Because again, like you can't make a lofty goal and then not change your behaviors and habits and just expect all that to change right away. We'll get into that in a second.

I want to go over something that I think was really fascinating, which Forbes reported the top five resolutions for 2024. And of course, what do you think number one was? Losing weight. Fitness. Or like getting healthy. Yeah, well like fitness. That's right. That's not the 90s anymore.

In the 90s, it would have been losing weight. Yeah. Well, losing weight actually was number five. I'm going to check to be. Oh, they added in. So they did fitness plus losing weight. OK, so let's go over them. OK. Let's go over them.

Let's talk about it, as the youngins say. What's that thing like? No, let's talk about it, like tacos. No, not tacos. Like, let's get into it or? Oh, let's get into it. OK. Let's dive right in.

Let's dive right in. OK, fine. Let's go into it or whatever. So quit the 40-year-old saying. I don't know what the kids say. I think we've all established that we really don't know slang. We need Dylan. Whatever the terminology. I don't know what the kids say. I think we've all established that like, we really don't know slang. Yeah.

We need Dylan, we need Dylan. We really do. We need my 10 year old back to kind of school us on what the youngins are saying. Okay, so let's go over the New Year's resolution, shall we? Yes. Okay, so number one is fitness. What do you think number two is?

Probably like a money thing, like save more money or make more money. Did you read it? No, I actually one is fitness. What do you think number two is? Probably like a money thing, like save more money or make more money. Did you read it? No, I actually really did not. Like it's not even open on it. Yeah, okay. So number two is improve finances. I'm thinking about my own resolutions here. Oh, really? Yeah, I mean, I'd love to make more money.

Okay, so number three is improved mental health. Oh, that's an interesting one. Yeah. I wouldn't have expected that, to be honest. Number four is lose weight. Okay, so lose weight and fitness would have been separated. Which does make sense. And then even more separated is number five, which is improved diet. I was gonna say eat healthier. Yeah, so they're all separated. Now, like when you make a lofty goal, like I'm gonna be, like for example, right?

Let's stay with the fitness. Like I'm gonna improve my fitness, but then there's no real plan of attack besides I'm gonna maybe get a gym membership. That's right away where the stop and the starts begin, right? Because if you don't have a plan, you're not executing a plan, you're going into something kind of

with like a big umbrella lofty goal. Well, of course, the chances of success are going to be less. Like you need to go in there with much more of, in my opinion, a realistic goal that's much more precise and you can see a measurable change over time. Like if you said, I want to work out three times a week for 20 minutes at minimum at a time. That is now something that is much more sufficient than I just want to be, I'm going to, I'm going to improve my fitness or I'm going to like work out more. Yeah.

Because like, what does that mean? It could be anything. Yeah, it's very conceptual. There's a really good book by Scott Adams. I forget what it is, like the failing forward one where he talks about goals versus systems. And like the idea of like resolutions to me are very in line with how he talks about goals where they're like this one thing with like a deadline

and it's like you either achieve it or you don't versus like a system, which is kind of what you're talking about with like a plan where you create like a daily routine or a habit that you just integrate. And it's less about like, you know, overall improving your, whatever your health. And it's more about every day, I'm gonna like drink this much water and I'm going to, you know, overall improving your, whatever, your health. And it's more about every day,

I'm gonna like drink this much water and I'm going to, you know, move my body for an hour. And like, that's your system. And if you don't do your system for one day, it's not the end of the world. But if you don't achieve your goal, it's like either success or failure, there's just like one or the other.

But your system is a constant thing. It's like your constant plan. And so if you miss one day, cause you're sick, it's fine. You can just pick your system up the next day. And so it's kind of like, I don't know. I know Scott Adams. I know the book that you're talking about. And I'm, I'm, I'm a big fan and believer of it

because I think it's a hundred percent accurate. So that's my point. Like these are very lofty goals. Like I'm going to improve my finances. I'm going to improve my fitness, but where's the, how am I going to do it? And what is the precise goal in mind that you can work towards versus these lofty things.

And that's when people like fall down a bad rabbit hole and then they don't have anything to work towards. And it's very willy nilly and it doesn't stick. But like, if you can be a little bit more specific in what you want to do, like to your point, if I said, I'm going to $100 off of every paycheck versus I'm going to save more money, then you actually have an actionable thing that you are requiring yourself to do. And therefore, now by next year, you'll see a measurable change, right? You'll have that money saved. You can get it very techie too, where you can have it like

automate that. So you can make a system where like you automate that your bank account will send 100 bucks every single month to like your savings account or whatever. Right. And then it's just like a part of your thing, then that becomes like your thing. Right. And also with losing weight, right? Like other than just saying, very arbitrarily, very arbitraries, I guess the word, like I'm going to lose, I want to lose weight. Well, how

much weight do you wanna lose? And what is realistic, right? So technically two pounds a week is what can be realistic. So give yourself two times, let's say four, right? And then that's, in one month you can lose eight pounds and then times it by the six, for six months or whatever it is. And then you're at like eight times six.

Like, I guess you can technically lose like a grand amount of weight within that time if you are sticking to a plan. Look at you. You lost 30 pounds in a year. Yeah. Right. Which is probably the best way to do it. Right. You had you were consistently go slow. You worked out every day. You ate properly. You had you basically built better daily habits. But I was doing it for like five years.

I just gained a lot in 2022. Because I was injured so much. And my habits were really based a lot more around fitness than they were around eating. And I think that was actually a big problem. Cause when you rely too heavily on one part of the solution to like maintain your physique, then if you lose that part,

like if you were injured and you can't work out and your eating is bad, then you're gonna gain it all back. So you gotta, you know. So this is a great segue. Oh got to. This is a great segue. Oh, that's a great segue. Look at me foiling well. No, that's a great segue into what I want to talk about.

And this is what I want to talk about is this myth that weight loss and fitness are automatically the same thing because it's not. And that's why it's funny in those five top trending New Year's resolutions, they broke up the fitness and the losing weight category, because it is, which I've never really seen before, which I'm happy they've done that, because you can be as fit as a fiddle,

but still gain weight if your diet is not in check. I mean, I'm a great example of this, right? Because I actually gained great example of this, right? Because I actually gained weight over the holidays. Not because my fitness wasn't in check, because by the way, my working out, like I work out daily, not for my body, but for my mind, for my mental health. However, if I'm not eating on point, I'm still going to gain weight. So I find that with everybody. I want to say this. I think that eating your diet is 95% of what you actually end up weighing, what you look

like and what if you're going to lose weight. If your diet is not on point, you're going to gain weight, no matter how much you work out. Unless you're an Olympic athlete and working out like 10 hours a day, I'm sorry. If you're like a regular person who is very active, but yet still eating too many calories, you're still, you're going to gain weight. That is just the way it is. I'm a great example of that. So I think if your ultimate goal is to lose weight, you really got to get your diet in check. It actually does happen in the kitchen, not in the gym. That is 100% true. If you want to lose weight, workout in the kitchen, don't worry about the gym. The gym, let me just say this, working out is much more for your mental health, your

physical strength, your overall mood, all of those things. I mean, you know how I feel about fitness and how important it is. But if you want to lose fat on your body, you've got to watch what you put in your mouth. I will say, though, I think working out also like helps the kitchen in a way, because after workout, you definitely don't feel like eating junk. And it does help sort of propel that and it gets you in like the what's the habit, right? So well, what it does it number a couple of forget, sorry, I forgot this show is called habits and

hustle. Sometimes I was gonna say, you're much more likely when you exercise to make better decisions with what you're going to eat. But I'm actually talking about people who are already working out a lot and they're not wanting to lose like even five pounds, eight pounds, 10 pounds. You really got to dial in your diet. Yeah. I mean, if you're not doing anything, of course, like fitness will help you, it'll help you with your mindset of like making better decisions.

It will help you with all of those things. But when you're diet, when you're trying to like lose making better decisions, it will help you with all of those things. But when you're dying, when you're trying to like lose that, that like that last five, eight, 10 pounds or whatever that is, you really got to pay attention to what you're putting in your mouth on a regular basis. And it gets harder and harder. It's easier to lose 100 pounds than it is to lose five pounds. Yeah, when you're when you're down at the lower levels, because you're like your percentage

you're losing so much more like of your actual body percentage. Yes, and then the other thing is, like we were saying a little bit earlier is integrating these habits into your daily routine already. So it doesn't feel like a drag to do them. So like, you know, if you don't have a lot of time or you know, you're, you,

or I shouldn't even say that I'm saying in the morning, put your shoes by your bed so you automatically put on your gym shoes you automatically put on your gym clothes and so now you're ready to take action versus putting on your regular clothes then changing afterwards like get it over and done with like do something first thing in the morning I know I sound like a broken record but if you want to get something done do it first thing in the morning. I know I sound like a broken record, but if you wanna get something done, do it first thing in the morning, get it off of your list, get it out of the way, and then move on with your day. And that way it's a part of what your daily routine is.

I brush my teeth, I take a shower, I exercise a little bit, good, done. And then that will make you get make a better choice for breakfast and for lunch. But like I said, if if your New Year's resolution is an arbitrary, I want to lose weight, have a specific goal in place. You know, it's been game changer for me. I think I got this from Goggins, although not that I like credit him for a lot of my changes in life. But this one thing that he said really

stuck with me, which is like, life is going to throw you rest days. So don't plan them. Because I don't know if he even accepts the rest days that life throws him, but it's true. And to me, I used to plan my rest days and then I'd have the ones that life also threw at me. So then I'd have like three rest days a week, which made it so much harder to get back into the gym. And so now I just like, in my mind, I'm working out every day and my workouts are also shorter now. They're not like two hour live sessions. I go to Pilates 50 minutes, I go to the gym 50 minutes, whatever it is, like you just get it done. And going every day has been a massive shift in me being able to go every day. It becomes way easier.

So I talk about that in my book and I talk about that. That wasn't a plug for the book, which you can buy, but which you can buy. Soft cover and hardcover. Yes. Now that now they're available in both paperback and hard cover. But no, seriously, I do say this a lot. I've talked about this on interviews a lot that I am not a believer in planning rest days for that exact reason. Because when you plan a rest day, then you do that rest day and then life happens also. So then you're going to have the rest day. Plus, you're going to have whatever happens in your week that you can't work out. So I don't ever plan a rest day.

I just assume that I'm going to work out every single day of the week. And then when something happens and I can't make it, then all right, that's my rest day. Exactly. And when you have kids, especially that happens more often than not. So if you're her parent, never plan a rest day because believe me, they're gonna come anyway. And if you have a career or you have a life, it will happen. So never plan a rest day.

I promise you, you'll get one regardless during the week. I wanna take a quick break from this episode to thank our sponsor, OneSkin. If you're tired of spending countless dollars on skincare that doesn't end up delivering the anti-aging results you want, I'm totally with you. And this is because too many companies market their skincare as anti-aging without any evidence or studies to prove it. But this is why I like OneSkin, because all their products are formulated with O-S-O-1.

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mean, by using OneSkin. Honestly, the results have actually been pretty remarkable. So if you want to buy skincare that actually works and provides you with the anti-aging benefits you're looking for, you should try OneSkin for yourself. I promise you will not be disappointed. Try it for yourself now by heading over to oneskin.co and use code HUSTLE15 for 15% off your entire order. [♪ MUSIC PLAYING FADES OUT, MUSIC PLAYING IN BACKGROUND. And then let's talk a little bit, well, by the way, if you are...

Oh yeah, Jen, why are you drinking two drinks? I was gonna ask you this earlier. You know what, I gotta tell you, I couldn't decide. I'm like, I'm obsessed with these slate milks now, by the way. They're so, the chocolate one is honestly unbelievable. You know what? Like unbelievable. They are really good.

And this is not me just, again, plugging. I do, I'm obsessed with them because they are no sugar And there's like 20 grams of protein so it satiates me and it tastes good It tastes like straight up chocolate milk Yeah, but I couldn't decide between the mocha and the caramel that like them both and I was staring in my fridge I'm like, okay. Do I take this one? Do I dry and I was going back and forth I was like standing in front of the fridge wasting time like eight minutes my fridge open and forth. I was like standing in front of the fridge, wasting time, like eight minutes, with my fridge open and buzzing. I'm like, screw it, I'm just gonna have both.

So I'm gonna take a sip of this and a sip of that. So now I'm drinking both of them. I know it looks cuckoo. So drinking both has saved you time. Would you say that this is like a life hack? It's a life hack. Don't choose, choose both. Yeah, don't choose, don't just choose one.

Well, I couldn't decide. So what I was gonna do is just like have a little bit of each and then put both of them back in the fridge and then drink the rest later. Smart. So then I'm not like depriving myself of one of the flavors. That feels really sustainable to me. I mean, listen, I don't think, I mean,

I don't think it would go bad if it's like my kids. Nah, it'll go, it'll stay. My kids basically like they have like a few steps because my kids love them, but they don't drink the ones with caffeine They just drink the regular ones some of them have caffeine the smoke one has caffeine the latte ones have caffeine The latte ones do but it's only like one 75 milligrams. That's not that's a lot I mean, I'm not giving my kids caffeine

No, they're not my kids are drinking the chocolate ones that don't have caffeine or what the point is They drink like three four sips and they put it back in the fridge and then they go back to it like a couple days later. I think that should be okay. I should actually DM them at Slate and ask them if that's like okay to do. I think it should be. I'm sure it's fine. But they are delicious. Okay so that's why. That's why it may look a little creepy like this but that's what I'm doing. But that's again, making a good diet choice, right? Because of the nutritional breakdown. I always say to people and myself, this is what I do, is that I like to plan what my

food's gonna be or else I will make a bad decision out of starvation. So having something that's handy, like these slates or whatever you would like that basically gets you over that hump that you're not going to eat something bad saves you a lot of time and energy and sadness later because when you wait too long to eat me anyway, when I wait too long, I get so hungry that I make a bad decision. Yeah, you ever go to the grocery store hungry? Yeah. Oh, my god, it's the worst. Going to Trader Joe's hungry is probably the single worst decision you can make a bad decision. Yeah, you ever go to the grocery store hungry? Yeah. Oh my God, it's the worst.

Going to Trader Joe's hungry is probably the single worst decision you can make for your life. Why just Trader Joe's? It's anything. Because they have the most, yeah, but they have less choices, so it's easier to choose. And it's also really delicious, like snacky things. And it's just, oh, and it's so easy to get. Like at Whole Foods, I get a little too overwhelmed.

Even if I'm so hungry, I'm like, what do I buy? And I just walk out. Trader Joe's, I will go through and legitimately select like a hundred things. You know what I love at Trader Joe's? Or one of my favorite things ever are these like dried mango. I love dried mango. And it's like, technically, this is a great example. Technically it's healthy, right?

It's one ingredient. Technically. Like technically, right? It's dried, well, it's one ingredient. Technically. Like technically, right? It's dry. Well, it's one ingredient. There's not like additives or anything, but they are, it's so high in sugar and in calories that like when you dehydrate a fruit, you're like eating this amount of fruit, but really like this, this small amount of fruit, it's really like nine mangoes.

And like I can, I can polish off a humongous bag of these things, which then is like thousands of calories, thousands of calories. But that's one of my biggest weaknesses. So then what do I do so I don't drink, like don't eat that mango? Because left to my own devices, if I'm too hungry, I'll go into my pantry and take a bag of it,

because my daughter loves them too. Dried mango is amazing. It's amazing. So then I have to have other things on hand that will satiate me, that will fill me up. And that's enter why I started initially with drinking one of these slates. And then now I'm using it for everything else,

like desserts and everything else. I mean, it's smart. The dried fruit thing is so funny, because if you look like apricots, like dried apricots are just these tiny things you can just pop in your mouth. Oh yeah. But that's a whole apricot.

That's a whole, that's a single whole apricot. Oh, it's delicious. Which is, and like, I love dried fruit. So again, I know my trigger. I know the food I love. I know what I'm one of my go-to. I trick myself. I, psychologically, I know it's high in calories and high in sugar and it's like really bad

for me to eat the quantities that I would have. But when I see it and I want it, I like will justify it. Well, no, it's just fruit. Oh, no, it's still very healthy. Just because it's healthy doesn't mean it won't pack on the pounds if you're not careful. So everything requires moderation and portion control. And going into 2024, I want you guys to be very cognizant of if you if your New Year's resolution involves losing weight, let me tell you, be very mindful of the portions, be very mindful of what you're

putting in your mouth, what you're doing in your kitchen, and I think that that will help you get to your goal more than just saying, oh, I'm going to work out more. I mean, working out great for your mood, great for your focus, for your brain, for making better choices. However, if you want to dial it in, really be careful of your portions, even if the food is healthy. That doesn't mean you can have 12 chicken breasts, you know, still you can only have one. I'm saying that for a friend. That's for a friend, not for you?

Not for, not for, not for, saying that yet. That's for a friend. Wait, this is for anyone thinking about starting Pilates? Go do it, it's been the best thing ever. I've been doing the last few months, literally this is your sign, you should just go start. If you're thinking about it, go start. Yeah, I like Pilates, but I do require,

I think it's a great thing to add in for variety. But I think that as only doing Pilates, we can do a whole other podcast on that. No, I mean, you shouldn't only do any one thing. You should do lots of things. I think you should do it ever. What I would say is this, I'm gonna leave you with this thought.

Try as many things as Possible and then do the things that you're actually gonna end up doing because if I tell you to do Pilates and you hate Pilates You're never gonna do it So if you like running run if you like hit training do hit training if you love Pilates be my guest you should go do it go try as many things as possible and What wins is consistency. So if you like it, you're going to end up doing it. And therefore you're going to be happier and get to whatever goal that is.

And with that note, enjoy the week and joy 2024 and good luck and Happy New Year.