I’ve been in the health and fitness space helping busy, burned-out women for over 7 years now.
That means that I’ve helped women uncover hormonal imbalances, get to the root cause of their stalled weight loss, and have found better ways to eat healthier while enjoying the foods that they love.
However, I was once new to this game of health and fitness.
I have made plenty of mistakes along the way, but I’m proud to say that I’ve learned so much from all of my mistakes and I always come back stronger and more knowledgeable than before.
Do you think if I get a little vulnerable today, I can help you in your own personal journey?
Let’s give it a try. Grab your favorite beverage and get cozy, let’s get into the first time I failed in fitness and suffered from chronic burnout.
A Typical Tuesday Scanning Groceries
Let me set the scene for you, the year is 2016, and I have been on my fitness journey for a few years now. I had lost over 20 pounds at this point. I was starting to study for my personal trainer certification because I was ready to teach people what I have discovered myself. At the time, I was still a cashier at Sam’s Club, scanning groceries like any other workday.
This day was significant because this was the first big scare I had with my body. I was finally seeing the consequences of my actions. I couldn’t grasp the idea of working out moderately and eating relatively healthy because I was caught up in the weight loss train, constantly thinking I had to do MORE cardio, MORE lifts, and eat LESS food, to keep seeing that scale number go down (and I was already pretty thin.)
Oh, and did I mention I was taking cheap green tea fat-loss pills I bought from Walmart? Yeah. That’s what started this whole thing.
A friend of mine saw some great progress with weight loss by simply taking this pill. She claims she didn’t do anything differently. As someone who busted their ass to lose the weight I had, I was jealous and curious.
So, I got the pills.
Little did I know the pills had A LOT of caffeine. Mix together way too much caffeine for a caffeine-sensitive person, being chronically dehydrated and eating 1200 calories or less–you have a recipe for disaster.
As I was scanning groceries at work, my heart started pounding out of my chest. I started sweating, and I felt like I was going to faint and puke at the same time.
I immediately left my station mid-grocery scan (still remember the look on the poor confused man’s face, but my team leader took care of it).
I was essentially hyperventilating in the bathroom and after a call to my boyfriend (now husband) and his mom who’s a nurse, we put two and two together and figured that the green tea pills were making me sick.
Spoiler alert: This wasn’t the last time something like this happened.
This was the start of my journey of learning when too much is too much. You CANNOT always keep pushing through (which I was constantly told in my journey as a trainer or I was considered “weak”) because your body will do what it needs to do to keep it safe and healthy. Even if that means stopping you dead in your tracks.
It took me many years of trial and error, finding my limits, and a few chronic illness diagnoses (Hi PCOS and Hashimotos!) to figure out that LESS IS MORE. Save your time and body and let me give you the shortcut.
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3 Ways That Led to My Failure in Fitness and Burnout
When you look at how I failed my body with the green tea pill scare that day, you could easily think the reason I failed was due to it just being another cheap quick-fix product.
In reality, there were [3] things I was doing that led to my body fighting back–it really wasn’t directly the green tea pills at all.
#1. I Was Overtraining and Under Recovering
In my own fitness journey, I was constantly told to do more and more. Especially as a young female in the fitness space, I never felt good enough as a trainer. I was always weaker, less knowledgeable, or never doing enough.
This led to me thinking “Well, I’ll work so hard that they can’t possibly think those things!” Which led me to push my limits day in and day out, with not an ounce of recovery in sight.
Check out my podcast episode on this topic here.
The Solution:
Instead of thinking longer training sessions and more cardio is the answer, I now train smarter, not harder. I thoughtfully pick a few exercises and train with the intention of 3-4 days per week instead of 6. I train for 40-60 minutes instead of 90-120+ minutes.
I also prioritize rest with things like yoga, quality sleep, and setting boundaries.
This has led to more progress toward my goals because my body actually gets time to recover. I’m also able to get really good at a few things that I am focusing on, so my body gets better results! I also feel a heck of a lot better, too (oh and save a ton of time!)
Remember, if you feel like you are working out 5 or 6 days per week and have little to show for it, you may be in a similar situation that I was.
#2. I Was Eating 1200 Calories or Less Per Day
Remember, I was relatively new to my health and fitness journey, which meant I was still learning, and very vulnerable to quick-fix schemes and fad diets.
I didn’t know how to properly calculate my calorie intake. I just followed a meal plan prescribed by the supplement MLM I was a part of.
And started tracking my calories on MyFitnessPal. I discovered it was around 1200 calories. That’s the number I needed to lose weight, so I stuck with it!
I was a little hungry, but I was told that was normal. Plus, what’s a little hunger for feeling this thin and fabulous?
The Solution:
Even many years after this incident, I continued to struggle with diet. Diets always felt so rigid that they set you up for failure. Even when the IIFYM (If it fits your macros) method seemed promising, they often taught you to fill your diet with lots of “Frankenfoods” packed with artificial sugars and processed foods with little nutritional value. You may get to eat a one-carb waffle or Halo top ice cream 24/7, but you ended up being undernourished and feeling like garbage.
So, for years, I sought to find a happy medium. How can we eat REAL foods most of the time (in a way that actually tastes good) while still occasionally being able to go out for drinks or eat dessert without it killing our progress?
That’s when I created my signature nutrition coaching style, which I teach in my Custom Coaching Program, Flourish.
For more information on my coaching style, or if you’re interested in nutrition coaching for yourself, you can read more about it here.
#3. Forgetting That I Can’t Be in Fat Loss Mode Forever
It’s easy to look back at this and think, “Tina! You were SO freaking thin!! Didn’t you ever feel it was time to stop the diet and eat a burger?!”, but we’re saying that with all the hindsight in the world.
At the time, this was the first time I was losing weight consistently in my life. I grew up a chubbier kid and I was never into sports or anything athletic. So, the fact I was losing weight and getting compliments left and right–was addicting.
Plus, you get a type of body dysmorphia I believe. You never realize how your body looks in it’s current state. You always see a past or made-up version of yourself. You never truly see what other people see (which is usually a lot more beautiful than how YOU perceive yourself).
The Solution:
Changing my mindset was the thing that led to my success and ultimately getting my body to a healthier place.
I shifted my mindset from hitting a certain number on the scale to more performance-based goals. I shifted my mindset to eating for fuel. Eating for my health. Eating for better bloodwork. I wanted to lift heavier weights and get strong. I wanted my body to feel refreshed and rejuvenated while crushing new goals and achieving new things.
Check out my video podcast episode all about this particular mindset shift that revolutionized my fitness journey.
Perseverance Pays Off
I wish I could say that I never failed in my time as a fitness trainer. That would be impossible, though because failure is how we get future successes and ultimately learn. Failure is the best teacher.
I have now made it my mission to help busy women to create a healthy lifestyle that they love in such a way as to avoid burnout and the mistakes I made.
Here at Tina Wieland Fitness we live and breathe healthy habits and mindset because it gives you the body of your dreams while living a life that is true to YOU and what you love.
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Over in my Busy Women, Fitness Driven Free Facebook Group, our community has been sharing their top failures in health and fitness, and how it’s helped them become better in the end.
Join in on the discussion by becoming a member of the free Facebook Group Here!
Got a question about your current fitness dilemmas? Reply in the comments below. Let’s chat!
