Super Charge Your Wellness

In the pursuit of insights to learn how to transform your mind and body, Susan A. Muir, fitness and wellness coach and university lecturer, shared her perspective and discussed her methodology. She is also on the Official COVID 19 Research Group for the Ministry of Health and Wellness of Jamaica.

Susan created a Facebook group AweMazeU Fitness Transformation Support to inspire people based on her personal fitness and weight loss journey. As a fundamental aspect of transformation, she emphasizes that many things are simple, but not necessarily easy.

One of the milestones of her journey was losing 40 pounds in 15 months and has kept it off for the past six years by using various techniques. She shared that it is important to be excited through the process in order to be able to persevere – identify the things that excite and motivate you to make your journey worthwhile. 

In her journey, she realized that in order to transform your mind and body, one has to understand the difference between human beings and human “doings” – knowing who you are, not just what you do.

The ACE Method

Her approach to creating a transformation of mind and body is the ACE Method. ACE increases your confidence and lays the groundwork for success to transform mind and body:

• A – Aspire: Identify what it is that you aspire to achieve. Write down your dreams and clearly indicate what you aspire to do. Focus on your strengths – the areas where you excel and be deliberate about what you want to achieve.
• C – Commit: Understanding what it takes to achieve your aspirations takes commitment to both the process and the outcome. However, in order to have the level of commitment necessary, it is important to do something that you like and enjoy. Commitment is essential with the knowledge that persistence leads to success.
• Excel – Once you set your goal, aim to excel by reaching it. There is major distinction between excellence and perfectionism – with perfectionism being a form of procrastination. Excellence is relative while perfectionism is absolute.

The ACE Method requires having a growth mindset where the distinction is made between the critique of the person versus the performance of the activity. Focus on performance enhancement while encouraging the person.

SUPER ID

Susan shared some bonus tips to reinforce the concept of super charging called SUPER ID:

• S – Self Compassion (being less critical of yourself)
• U – Unstopability (keep making a difference) and showing grit 
• P – Pure Principles
• E – Excitement
• R – Renergizebent (yes, with a “B”) – seeing progress – process and results – rest is critical to see the results and living a super charged life
• Identity – How you see yourself and being able to connect with God by prayer and growing by reading wisdom literature. Your identity includes being an inspiration to others and having patience; accepting yourself for who you are.
• Dream – Your identity is linked to having a dream delivery system which is tied to your mission and vision that are ultimately linked to specific habits in your life.

Once you have these points in place the next thing to hone in on is your Super Power. For Susan, her two super powers are her ability to ask good questions and to have a vibrant imagination.

In order to optimize your results and expedite success, it is essential to ask good questions; the better the question the better the result – use the technique of asking good questions to probe and solve problem. Also, knowing that it is possible for your life to be better if you are deliberate about it and willing to imagine a different way and future, facilitates success. Be able to “wheel and come again” as we say in Jamaica. The art of turning around and being able self correct out of a tight situation.

How to Maintain Weight Loss

Susan further shared some tips to on how to maintain weight loss based on her journey, citing the three key pillars:

1. Mindset
2. Nutrition
3. Physical Activity

It is one thing to lose weight but another to keep it off. The following tips show how to keep the pounds off with “The S’s of weight loss maintenance“:

1. Self Monitoring Metrics – Measuring your weight and body dimensions
2. Sleep – Get enough sleep to feel rested the body needs time to recover. We tend to eat more the longer when we are awake.
3. Stress Management Techniques – Find ways to be grateful, generous, and celebratory; plan your time to relieve stress on the use of your time.
4. Social Support – Get support from friends and family or support groups to encourage and support your goals.
5. Start Small – Break things down into manageable pieces and avoid overwhelming yourself.
6. Self Esteem – Throughout the process, remember to do those activities that build your self esteem and give you motivation to continue towards achieving your transformational goals.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments and let’s keep the conversation going. I invite you to download the Super Charge Checklist and Sign up for Super Charge Weekly email newsletter to keep informed of interesting topics and events.