“How do I, as a plus size woman get started on a workout program” was a question that I was asked during a recent group call that I participated in for the Plus Size Bloggers community. Here’s my response, which includes how to get started with your mindset, exercise, and nutrition…

Step 1: Celebrate This New Journey That You Are About To Begin

It’s time to shift the focus away from the usual dread of a weight loss journey and begin to think of this as a wonderful experience and journey of living to your full potential and experience the life that you deserve.

Celebrate the fact that you have just taken the first positive step toward a healthier and more vibrant life by making the choice and decision to improve your health, body, mind, and spirit.

Step 2: Look In The Mirror and Tell Yourself “I ROCK! I Love Myself! I Am Capable of Greatness!”

This is such a fun and silly exercise, yet it’s so incredibly powerful. I’m not ashamed to say that I do this every day. The important thing is to put a lot of positive emotion into it. Get excited about it. Feel the joy in those statements. I personally jump up and down and get goosebumps every time that I do this and visualize myself achieving my goals.

Tell yourself, “I Can Do This!” I want to see your “I can do it” thermometer blast right through the top.

Step 3: Believe That The Above Statement Is Absolutely 100% True!

If thoughts of self doubt creep into your mind as you say “I am capable of greatness”, it’s time to get to the root of your limiting beliefs, conquer them, and replace them with positive beliefs that will serve you.

For a step by step process listen to this quick and powerful 18 minute audio and read through the report 7 Steps For Overcoming Limiting Beliefs.

Step 4: Recognize Your Past Successes

During the group call, my friend who asked me the question, “How do I get started” had previously mentioned that she released 30 pounds from her body not too long ago, but she put the weight back on.

If you have achieved fat loss success in the past it is 100% proof that you can do this! That you are capable of greatness!

What did you do in your efforts to release those 30 pounds? What did you find worked the best during that time? What did you enjoy most about the journey? Did you learn anything about yourself during that process?

Take the time to reflect on how you felt during that time. Were you proud of yourself? Were you gaining confidence. Were you beginning to believe that You Can Do It!

Step 5: Take Note Of The Obstacles That Set You Back and Create A Plan To Overcome Them If They Happen To Arise Again

What caused your previous setbacks? Were there defining moments? What was going through your mind at the time?

What can you learn from those experiences? There is one guarantee in this journey that you are about to embark on… you will face obstacles and challenges. The key is to be prepared for them.

Let’s say that one of your setbacks occurred when you got sick and you weren’t able to exercise for an entire week. Maybe during that time you were craving carbs and some not so healthy foods. Let’s say that after the week of binging on excess carbs and unhealthy foods, and not exercising you decided that “You always seem to sabotage yourself and through in the towel completely giving up.”

How could you handle this situation if it arises again?

First of all, recognize that getting sick was out of your control. It happened. Also recognize that your body is sending you signals to recover and heal itself. Carbs may be the thing that it really needs at that time.

Recognize that this is just one week in your life long journey of living your true potential. One week is not going to make or break you. Give yourself permission to rest and recover. Avoid feelings of guilt and frustration. You are not “Off Track”. It’s all a part of your track… it’s just not a straight track. It’s got bends and curves, ups and downs.

Use this time to strengthen your mind. Even though you can’t physically exercise, you can certainly perform some mental exercises. Read through your goals. Remind yourself of why you are embracing this positive life experience through fitness and health. Use this time as an opportunity to enhance your skills for overcoming limiting beliefs. Use this time to set your mind free from all the chaos and clutter that everyday ‘normal’ life presents you with.

Reflect on the successes that you have achieved up to this point in your journey and celebrate those victories. Be proud of yourself. You’ve done incredibly well and you are certainly not about to give that up. You really do ROCK! One little pebble in the road is not enough to stop you from achieving the life that you deserve.

I always like to look at people who have faced much greater obstacles than myself and say, “If they can overcome their tremendous challenges, there is absolutely no doubt that I can overcome my challenge, which seems so teeny tiny in comparison.

Here are two comparisons that I’ve recently referenced: Overcoming Obstacles

Visit your fitness plan each day that you are sick. Mark down on the calender ‘Detour’… I’m taking the scenic route!

Have a plan for starting right back up. You may want to ease yourself into your routine in order to avoid a recurrence of the illness that you are experiencing.

So you see how you can take a previous obstacle, learn from it, and come up with a plan to overcome it, should you be faced with it again?

Step 6: Ease Into Your Exercise Plan and Focus on Progression

Walking is often times the easiest way to get started. Walking around the block may be all that you can handle for the first couple of weeks. That’s O.K. That’s your starting point of reference. Now you can focus on walking a little bit further each week or walk that block a little bit faster.

If walking presents a challenge you can focus on resistance training to burn most of your calories. Resistance training should be a key component of your fat burning plan to start with, but if walking is a challenge for you, resistance training is definitely going to be your best friend.

Here’s a quick home workout that you can do to maintain or gain muscle while you are burning fat. That precious muscle will boost your metabolism. Resistance training is the best way to receive a metabolic boost.

The exercises are…

1) Steps
2) Triceps Kickback
3) Chair Squats
4) Shoulder Press
5) Stiff Leg Dead Lift

Perform the exercise for 30 seconds followed by 20 seconds of rest. I use a Gymboss interval timer to keep me on pace.

If you need to rest longer than 20 seconds that is quite alright. Just set the timer for your desired rest period.

One way that you can focus on progressing with this workout is to decrease the rest period each time that you perform the workout.

Another way that you can progress is to perform two rounds of each exercise… repeat the entire workout two or three times.

I would love to see you active as much as possible throughout your day. What I recommend is to perform the one round two to three times throughout your day. Maybe first thing in the morning, during your lunch break, and before dinner.

One of the benefits of breaking it into chunks is that you will give your metabolism a boost several times throughout your day.

Step 7: Drink Adequate Amounts Of Water

Water is definitely your friend. I recommend having a 1/2 gallon jug of water on hand and drink it two times throughout your day. Have some every hour to ensure optimal body and mind function.

Step 8: Clear The Cupboards

One of my rules is “Out of sight, out of mind”. Don’t allow junk in your house. When you are going to treat yourself, do it away from your house. If you are experiencing temptations and cravings at night and there is no junk in the house you will be less likely to give into those cravings.

Step 9: It’s Not About Perfection

You absolutely do not need to be perfect with your diet in order to see great results. Like exercise, you should ease into your reduced calorie diet as well. Find one unhealthy food that you can reduce from your current eating patterns and progress from there.

Step 10: Accept Your New Role as a Role Model

The positive example that you are setting will have an impact on friends, family members, and even complete strangers. It may not impact everyone, but if even just one person is inspired by your actions, you have made the world a better place.

Celebrate this new role. Embrace it. Nourish it. Yes you are doing this for yourself and to live to your full potential, but by living to your full potential you will be helping many others as well.

I would absolutely love to unite with you in an effort to reverse the obesity trend by the year 2015. You can unite with us by visiting the “Reversing The Obesity Trend by 2015” Facebook page and clicking on the “Like” button.

To achieving your limitless potential,

Scott Tousignant

PS Remember to celebrate your victory of taking the first step in this new journey. And thank you for allowing me to share in this journey with you.