Redefining Strength Podcast
You train hard. You try to eat well. You stay disciplined. And yet progress slows. Energy drops. Fat loss stalls.
The Redefining Strength Podcast is for women who work hard on their health… but still feel like their body isn’t responding the way it used to.
Hosted by Cori Lefkowith, founder of Redefining Strength, this show helps you understand what’s actually happening inside your body — and what to do about it.
Cori is the creator of the STRONG System, used by over 10,000 women around the world to transform their bodies and build results that last.
Through real coaching insights and conversations with leading experts in women’s health, metabolism, and behavior change...each episode breaks down the science in a way that actually applies to real life.
Because the answer isn’t working harder. It’s learning how to work smarter so your effort finally creates the strength, energy, and confidence you’ve been chasing.
If you’re ready to stop starting over and start building a body you can count on, this podcast will help you get there.
Redefining Strength Podcast
FHP 623 - 6 Hard Lessons For Lasting Results
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode I want to discuss 6 hard lessons I've learned along my journey that help with achieving lasting results!
Long-Term Fitness Habits and Mindset
Speaker 1Hey guys , this is Kori from Redefining Strength . Welcome to the Fitness Hacks podcast . This is the show where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips . I'm not going to ever fill this episode with sponsorships or ask you to buy anything . All I ask in return is , if you're enjoying the podcast , to leave a review or leave a five-star rating or , even better , share it with someone you think it might help . This will only take a few minutes and would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone you know . So let's jump right in .
Speaker 1I've made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot of hard lessons along my road to achieve better body re-com , improve my strength , overcome injury , and I wanted to share some of these lessons that I've learned with all of you to help you hopefully avoid some of the mistakes I've made , but also to recognize that so often we overestimate what we can accomplish short-term and underestimate what we can accomplish long-term with consistency . So , going over six hard lessons that I've learned Number one stop saying it's not forever . But it's not forever , and what I mean by this is often we go into something being like oh , I don't have to track forever , I'll even have clients ask you know , do I have to track forever ? And I used to always say , oh no , you don't have to track forever , it's just a learning tool . And while that is the truth , you may not track forever , you don't necessarily need to track forever I think planting that seed in our head makes us not embrace how much we're going to truly have to change our habits and lifestyles , because you can't just do one thing to achieve your goal and go back to what you were doing . What you do to achieve a result will then shift as you maintain , because you don't necessarily keep doing the same thing . What you do to reach a goal is not what you'll do to maintain it or as you work towards another goal , and hanging on to those habits might hold you back . But we have to embrace that we're making changes that are going to be something that are going to impact our lifestyle long term , that are going to be mindset shifts that change how we always are going to view things in the future .
Speaker 1We are acting as if until we're acting as we are . So if we have this perspective , oh , it's not a lifestyle change forever , it's not something I'm going to necessarily do forever . We kind of fake the habits . So it's that fake it till you make it , versus truly acting as if . So you've got to stop saying that it's not forever , but also recognize that it's going to change . And when you get to maintaining , you're going to shift your habits . You're not going to stay in a calorie deficit once you're maintaining your results . You're going to have to retrain your body to eat more . You're going to shift how you train , you're going to shift how you fuel and then , as you're maintaining your results , that's going to shift as , potentially , your lifestyle shifts . So one thing is not a lifestyle . A lifestyle is based on the fundamentals of understanding macros , understanding workout progressions , not doing the same workouts or the same macro ratios forever , so forever , so it is , but isn't forever .
Speaker 1Number two not embracing minimums . It's all well and good to go all in . Go do those six workouts or six days a week of training , do intense macro breakdowns , even potentially cut out foods you normally enjoy . I know there are phases where I'm like , okay , I'm not going to have my cheat day each week . I'm going to focus a little bit more on eating a lot of whole , natural foods . I'm not going to let as many deviations in . I'm going to cut out my cocktails for a little bit and I'm going to go really intense because I have this specific goal I want .
Speaker 1But that doesn't work at all times of year . There are times of year where I'm stressed , where I just simply don't care , where there's other lifestyle balances and things I want to work in , and at those times I would always sabotage myself by trying to enforce the same habits , and when I couldn't enforce the same habits , I would ultimately do nothing . So instead , I recognize how important it is to do the minimum , realizing that at certain times other things in your life have to take the priority . But by doing the minimum , as much as it doesn't seem like your ideal , it keeps you moving forward . It keeps you maintaining the progress you've already built , because so often , if we can't do the perfect thing and to keep moving forward , we do nothing or bad habits that lead to us sliding back down the hill . Why lose progress ? Why not see maintaining itself as progress ? Because you're creating that new set point , that new launch pad off of which you can build when times do become a little bit more ideal , when you can move forward .
Speaker 1Plus , often , in doing the minimum and what feels like we're not moving forward . We're still inching forward . So all of a sudden , when things are , you know , less stressful , work has calmed down , we can go back to the six days a week of training or we can do a little bit more and push harder in our training because we've overcome that injury whatever else it is and we can go a little bit faster ahead . We have that solid foundation and it's almost easier because we stacked those other habits . Maybe tracking for the longest time was hard for us , and then we got into tracking some very intensive macro breakdowns with specific foods , and now life is busy and we can only track protein . Tracking has now become so normal and natural that we don't even think about the fact that we're still doing a minimum that was above what we used to do , which was not track , and so when we have to go back to those ratios , all of a sudden that might be easier because we've kept in that one habit . So embrace doing the minimums , because that keeps you moving forward and often keeps you maintaining your result , which leads to body recomp still snowballing , even though we don't feel like we're necessarily doing a ton to achieve that .
Speaker 1Number three , realize that the closer you get , the harder it gets and you can't rush the process . So when you think about 10 pounds , the last 10 pounds , we have to think well , it's only 10 pounds , but those 10 pounds are probably going to be the hardest 10 pounds , because even losing five of those 10 pounds , you're losing 50% of the weight you have to lose . So if you think about if you had 30 , 40 pounds to lose and you had to lose , you know the 15 , 20 pounds , how long it took you to do that , and that 50% , this is 50% still . So it's going to take you a lot longer than you think . Just because it's five pounds doesn't mean it's going to go faster .
Speaker 1And the more you try and rush that , the more you risk losing muscle . The more weight we have to lose , the more wiggle room we really do have , because some muscle will be lost , as we won't necessarily need all the weight that we have on , as we do achieve that body recomp . But the closer we are to our goal , the more we're pushing , potentially a boundary . We're not used to pushing , we've never pushed before that our body doesn't necessarily want to push , and so the harder it's going to get and the slower we have to go so that we make sure that we're not creating any metabolic adaptations , losing muscle , creating hormonal imbalances that will ultimately sabotage us maintaining those results . So what might have been , you know , one pound per week when you had 30 , 40 , 50 pounds to lose ? Now , as you're getting towards the 10 pounds , it's probably going to be a lot slower because it is again each pound you're losing is a higher percentage of the weight you have left to lose than when you had more weight to lose .
Speaker 1So just remember that and recognize that . And also recognize that in this process and this is one of the other hard lessons that I learned you may feel like you look worse before you look better , even though you're moving forward . And it's often because you're losing off of areas that you don't care about as much , while the areas that you do want to lose from are not changing , and because other areas are becoming smaller , other areas look bigger . So just recognize that , that as you're , you're leaning down . As you're losing weight and you're losing those last few pounds , you're going to feel like you're in a dead zone where nothing's happening . But that's often the point when we want to quit and that's where we have to keep going . I know , at 30 days when we've been working really hard , when we don't feel like we're Continuing to see progress , or six weeks because we are at those last few pounds . We just have to stay the course . That's really what it is . We have to stay the course . That's really
Navigating Life's Ebbs and Flows
Speaker 1what it is . We have to stay the course .
Speaker 1Then recognize that everything ebbs and flows . Life is never standing still . Your motivation is not going to always be there . You're not always going to have the perfect situation . Stressors in life are going to change . You're going to have priority shift and the more you can constantly be evolving to meet yourself where you're at , the better results you're going to see . I can tell you that macro breakdowns that work really well for body recomp .
Speaker 1At one stage , if I change up my training , add in something else or have a different focus , or even as wimpy as I've now become with Southern California weather in the winter , when it's colder versus the summer , I know my activity level changes and if I try and force something that worked on one time , at another time it might not work any longer . And if I don't ebb and flow with the activity levels , I don't ebb and flow with my stress . I'm going to ultimately sabotage my long-term consistency . I know we want to strive for this ideal that we see out there , this idea of perfect , but the more we can meet ourselves where we're at , the more we're going to continue to move forward during every phase of life . And if you've ever thought like , oh , this is not the right time , I'm not going to start now , that is exactly the right time to start , because only starting during these perfect times is why we don't learn how to ebb and flow when things do get stressful . It's why we don't learn how to do the minimum . It's why we end up sabotaging ourself because we haven't stacked those habits in a way that they're sustainable when life gets in the way which is a majority of life , life getting in the way .
Speaker 1So , off of even my other tip about you know , not feeling like you look better and hitting that dead zone , I think it's a very interesting phenomenon that I noticed as I maintained longer and longer and didn't have those big swings because I learned how to ebb and flow with life . But you may feel like you truly look worse while maintaining your result . So you might end up stepping on the scale and be like , okay , my weight's the same . Okay , my measurements are the same , but I feel like I don't look as good . And this is a strange phenomenon with maintaining . That I call the comparison game . I think we are creatures of comparison and I think a lot of times we do something in reference to another point . So when you're first losing the weight , you look better than you looked before . Right , the clothes fit better than they did before .
Speaker 1At some point A , when you hit that maintaining level , you're going to have sort of bumpers where you will gain a little bit and you will lose a little bit . But you're cycling very close around that weight but there's still ebbs and flows . So if you hit that bottom a little bit higher it will look worse . But also you stop having that comparison because it will just look that same way . So if you have a little bit of bloat on that day , you might feel like , oh , I don't look that good , but it's just a little bit of bloat , it's not that you've lost progress , it's not that you've sabotaged anything . So you have to recognize that you'll lose that comparison when you're maintaining .
Speaker 1So you've got to stay focused on other metrics , other ways to keep yourself within those boundaries . Are you doing the habits you need ? Are you tracking those ? Are you even setting performance goals ? Because we don't do well with no direction . We get very lost with no direction . So you always want to be setting that direction , because you won't have that clear necessarily like aesthetic comparison and if you let that start to sabotage you , you might start to lose more even though you don't need to , or you might end up giving up on healthy habits that are really working for you .
Speaker 1So the last tip I wanted to go over a hard lesson that I learned was take breaks to focus on other priorities . It's really hard to say , hey , I have to put this goal on a back burner , especially if you still have 20 , 30 pounds you want to lose . If you have more weight you want to lose . It's really hard to say , hey , I've got to slow down on my focus on the school . But I think sometimes owning that other things in our life have to take priority , help us ebb and flow and move forward , no matter what .
Speaker 1But trying to white knuckle our way through willpower way through is what ultimately leads to us giving up and never accomplishing a goal and even becoming harder each and every time we try and reach it because we've created other issues and even other negative mindsets towards tools , like , if you think about tracking , a lot of times we have a negative association with it because every other time we've tried to track , we've restricted , we haven't seen our results . It's just a negative experience overall . We've tried to track , we've restricted , we haven't seen our results . It's , you know , just a negative experience overall , which makes it really hard to want to use that tool again in the future .
Speaker 1So the more you can say hey , this is what my schedule is right now . How can I plan for this so that I can give what should be a priority right now the necessary attention that it needs , while still being consistent ? So if work has gotten busy , hey , okay , yes , I do six days a week usually , or five days a week usually , but I'm going to go to three days a week and I'm going to go to 30 minutes . That owning of the other priority allows you to still do something and a lot of time that something moves you forward a lot faster . Not to mention , you might find that by not having that mental strain of that other thing and giving your whole focus to the thing that should take priority , you ultimately see results snowball better the thing that should take priority . You ultimately see results , snowball better , you feel better and even want to do more .
Speaker 1I think that's something we forget is the importance of the success mindset , because when you set six days a week , if there are other priorities and you're not owning them and you can't get into the gym six days a week , you start to feel like a failure when you miss one session , even if you still got in five . But if you set your expectation of three sessions with your other priorities and then you get those three sessions , you feel successful . Often you want to do more because sometimes missing workouts , then we go well , what's the point of eating Well , who even cares right ? And then more workouts are missed versus hey , I did my three workouts , I feel great , I want to , you know , even dial in my nutrition a little bit more . So the the way our momentum is going can really impact the results we ultimately get and the habits that we can allow to snowball and build . So
Prioritizing Balance in Fitness Journeys
Speaker 1just recognize that .
Speaker 1It is okay Sometimes to even say I need a dieting break or I need a deload week just because my priorities have shifted and this keeps me doing something . It gets me re-motivated , even often faster , to keep moving forward . But all these hard lessons really come back to the fact that so often we do prioritize or value more hard work . We do value doing more . We don't often value time and consistency and balance and meeting ourselves where we're at . But the more we stop sort of pushing for the short-term fix and embrace that over time we can really see the results snowball , the better off we're going to be . Thanks for listening to the fitness hacks podcast . Again , this is the place where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips . I'm never going to run sponsorships or ask you to buy anything . All I ask in return is , if you're enjoying the podcast , to leave a rating review or share it with someone you think it might help . This will only take a few minutes and it would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone you know .
