Award-winning health coach, Aisling Vaughan of the ‘Ayrie’ holistic health and wellbeing program, gives her tips to help you be your healthiest and happiest self in 2023
Now that the holiday madness is over, I’m sure a lot of us are wanting to get back to feeling human again by re-establishing a good routine. The new year is a lovely, natural way to make way for change in our lives. Health and fitness and one’s quality of life is always a big one, of course! When we’re feeling a bit worse for wear, it’s understandable that we want to feel better as soon as possible. It’s easy to commit to a diet and exercising like a mad person in a bid to get ‘back on track’. But as a coach, I’m all too familiar with seeing how this surge of motivation might be the very thing that sets you up for failure, especially in the long run. Or as a lot of the women I speak to would say, ‘the all or nothing’ approach!
Below I’ve shared some of the things that I teach inside our programme, ‘Ayrie’. Hopefully it will set you up for success too and will help you achieve longterm, sustainable results this year.
1. Drop the guilt: If you’ve enjoyed your food over Christmas or maybe went a bit OTT…thats ok! It means you’re a normal human being just like everyone else! If you can’t do it at Christmas, when can you do it? There’s no point in dwelling about what you ate between Christmas and New Year. Let’s switch our attention to what we could eat between New Year and next Christmas instead! So let’s drop the guilt – it’s just another thing that will drain our energy and headspace – and let’s focus our energy on getting back to winning ways.
2. Have the correct
expectations: Expecting too much too soon in weight loss and health efforts is one way of setting yourself up for failure. If you implement the quick fix, you’ll see the quick fail. Guaranteed. Instead of going balls to the wall for the next six weeks and throwing in the towel when you want a social life again, focus on what you can achieve over six months instead. I’d recommend making improvements in a way that is sustainable and lifestyle-based, as opposed to weight loss efforts that are going to be short-lived and have you back to square one a few weeks later. Ask yourself “can I see myself doing this for the rest of my life?” If so, you’re on to a winner. If not, you may need to rethink your approach.
3. Work on your mind:
This is the piece that is always overlooked when it comes to getting results. Your mindset has a huge part to play in your success so don’t forget to pay attention to your self talk and emotional wellbeing. Take emotional eating for example. If you lean to food for comfort when you’re stressed, overwhelmed, anxious, tired and so on, then no amount of personal training or diet plans will work longterm. You’re still left with the same issue. Another example of this is not addressing limiting beliefs. If you always tell yourself you never stick to anything, guess what? You’ll never stick to anything! If you believe you’ll never lose weight, you won’t. It’s called the Self-fulfilling Prophecy – when your actions align with the story you tell yourself. In ‘Ayrie’, we focus a lot on the person and their mindset because it is essential in moving forward. Don’t ignore it!
4. Celebrate your wins: This ties in with the above. Acknowledging your progress and wins, no matter how small, is an essential part of being in the right headspace. We are all too quick to put ourselves down and ruminate when we ‘fall off the wagon’. Always focusing on your downfalls really is a crap way to be because ultimately, we end up feeling like failures and throw in the towel. Imagine if we spoke to our kids or best friend the way we speak to ourselves? Their confidence would be ruined and they’d probably hate us! Instead, I’d recommend ‘stacking your wins’ and reflecting on the things you DID DO that week – getting a walk or a workout in, making better food choices, getting to bed earlier and so on. Focus on your wins, acknowledge your progress and see how your attitude changes. Be your own cheerleader. This stuff is supposed to improve your life, not make you feel like a failure.
Overall, the above advice is to help you be successful in your efforts over the next few months. Let this year be the last time you have to start over! Cut out the tips above and stick them on the fridge, or in your diary or somewhere where you’ll see them regularly. If you’ve any questions, feel free to bounce them off me via ashvaughan@ayrie.ie or @coach_ashyv on instagram. I’m always happy to chat.
Ádh mór, best of luck!
Aisling Vaughan is an award winning coach and speaker to women who want to improve their health, lifestyle and mindset. Her program ‘Ayrie’ (eye-ree) which means ‘to rise’ in Irish, uses a whole life, holistic approach to health and wellbeing and has worked for hundreds of women around the world. Applications for the programme are now open. See www.ayrie.ie for more details.
