I’m happy to have Stephanie Mansour, CEO of Step It Up with Steph, as my guest today. She has been featured on CNN, AOL, Crain’s Business, and local TV stations across the country for her holistic and unique approach to being healthy and fit anywhere, anytime. She identifies some of the ways we sabotage ourselves. Here’s what she has to say:

When you’re trying to create a healthier & more fit lifestyle for yourself, there are many saboteurs.  However, they all aren’t coming from outside forces…
Can you guess who is your BIGGEST saboteur?

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That’s right, when it comes to living a healthy & fit lifestyle, and if you’re unsuccessful, YOU are sabotaging yourself! Here are the reasons why and how you’re sabotaging yourself, and how to get out of your own way of a healthy and fit life:

?******Blaming your schedule, job, relationships, or commitments for not leaving you any time to work out or grocery shop for healthy foods.
•    While I am not saying you should quit your job or become a hermit just so that you can fit in a workout, I am saying that you should re-asses which lifestyle choices you make and how they may or may not repeatedly sabotage your healthy efforts.

•    Are you constantly over-committed and aren’t able to say NO?  Or do you pride yourself on never canceling a dinner or always adjusting to fit into someone else’s schedule?

•    What are you doing, with YOUR life, that’s preventing you and sabotaging you from working out & eating healthy?
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******Procrastinating
•    Do you always put off going to the gym or going grocery shopping so that you can do other things first? Taking care of yourself must be a priority in order for you to improve your strength & health and/or lose weight.
 
•    Instead of procrastinating your workout, Step It Up & hop to it! Even if you think you’ll have more energy later as opposed to now, take the first step & get moving!
 
•    The more you train yourself to get out of the procrastinating mindset, the easier it will be to never fall into procrastination in the first place.
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******Not Valuing Yourself
•    If you value something (like your car, significant other, or your job), you do whatever you need to do to take care of it, right? Similarly, if you value your body, you would obviously take good care of it. So if you’re not taking good care of yourself, the question becomes…Do you value yourself?

•    Here is a funny & tiny example, but something that really changed how I prioritized myself. When I’m running around trying to rush out the door, I think about how good I would feel if I took an extra 30 seconds and brushed my teeth. Even though I’ve already brushed my teeth in the morning, if I’m leaving a few hours later, I say to myself, “I deserve to feel like I have good, clean teeth, so I’m going to give myself this time to brush them again!” This soon translated into many other areas of my life as well.

•    Even if you do not fully value yourself right now, start taking actions so that you will then start to believe how valuable you really are, and how important it is that you take care of yourself.
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Stephanie Mansour, CEO of Step It Up with Steph, created the Cubicle Crunch (a series of stretches you can do at your desk) & other quick, easy ways to become healthier and can be found “Taking It To the Streets” in Chicago, where she asks random, everyday people to Step It Up with her. She is a private trainer and coach for high powered females in Chicago, combining yoga, pilates, personal training, and body image & confidence coaching with her clients. Stephanie is also the creator of the workbook, “30 Days to Love Your Body & Your Life“.
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Take the 31 Days of Self-Love challenge and get my book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways for free at http://howdoiloveme.com. And you can post your loving acts HERE to reinforce your intention to love yourself. Read my 31 Days of Self-Love Posts HERE.

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