22 Jun 10 Things I’ve Learned from Renovating an abandoned 1950s home And how this is related to your Nutrition Journey
If you have been following along my IG stories, you have seen the last endeavor my husband and I are navigating. October 30th 2021 we closed on a 1956 brick ranch in a fabulous location, but it needs a lot of work. The home was not well taken care of. The yard is overgrown and the interior is extremely outdated and needs some serious attention.
This is however exactly the option we were looking for because I would often find homes that were “liveable” and well functioning, but not the style or layout I liked and felt good. So we did want something we could pretty much tear down and recreate with our vision!
This is actually not out first home. The first home we bought together, we built new construction. Life took us in another direction (story for another time), and we decided to move and completely switch gears!
With that comes tons of work obviously. But through the work, failures, and struggles, you appreciate the outcome SO much more! Our journey through the first phases of demolition, planning and lots of weeding, reminds me so much of the phases I am working through with my nutrition coaching clients.
1. Gaining awareness, clarity and vision for the future
When we first bought the home we had to just start to look at the details, as well as the big picture. What are we working with? What do we value most in our home and where do we want to put most of our efforts? What is the vision?
In the first phase of coaching with my nutrition clients, we are building awareness around nutrition, sleep, hydration, activity and self care habits. What areas are positively contributing to your health and what areas we can strengthen. We get crystal clear about the vision and direction we are going.
2. Get Your Hands Dirty
We are in the mix of navigating weather and deciding what projects are best to do now and which ones we can do in different seasons. I have been digging up weeds that have been there for Decades. These root systems are no joke. It feels like digging up roots of diet culture and food rules with my nutrition coaching clients.
These extreme diet messaging and thought patterns have been there for years, so we have to get our hands dirty and dig it up, before we can plant new seeds!
3. Taking Down the Walls
We were excited to take down a wall that is separating the living room from the kitchen. By doing this it creates amazing natural light from the gorgeous windows that are there. We are creating an open concept kitchen and living space. The house has amazing bones, it just needs to be opened up and bring out its natural existing features.
Part of the work in reconnecting back with yourself, is starting by tearing down the walls. What are you avoiding or disconnected from? This is often what is limiting us from gaining our full potential and allowing our natural beautiful qualities to shine through. Once you can even just say these areas you are struggling with out load, the demolition begins. It is no doubt the hardest part of the process. Knocking down walls, and tearing up three layers of laminate floors is no joke. But necessary for future growth!
4. Asking for Help is Necessary
The wall we are removing is load bearing, so we had to have an engineer give us direction on the best way to do this and have a contractor build a tres system in the roof to safely support the weight of the house. Could we have tried to do this on our own, sure! But neither my husband or I have the skill or knowledge to be doing this, especially in regards to the safety of our home!
By asking for help from the people that specialize in these areas and investing into the process, we are able to do this correctly and save personal time, headache and safety! For some reason most people believe they should know all the things about nutrition and how to lose weight in a sustainable way. But was this ever really taught to you? Yes, there is a plethora of nutrition information floating around, which honestly makes it MORE confusing and overwhelming. By asking for help from the right people, you are gaining the support and individual guidance to be successful and filter out the noise! ALSO, your body is a prized possession! Going about weight loss in an extreme way can actually harm your health, let alone leave you feeling awful. Asking for help is brave and means you are open and willing to learn and grow!
5. Be Patient in the Journey
Patience is SO hard when you want the end result so bad! We are navigating weather and order of projects to complete. We have to have the wall removed before we can tear out the carpets and redo the flooring. We have to have the new HVAC system installed before we can remove the old baseboard heaters to redo the floors and update the kitchen. Everything has an order of urgency and coordinating with subcontractor time lines. We were ready to move into our new house …. Last year! But I know that we have to continue to have patience with the process and do the best we can in our circumstances.
EVERY person comes to me at a different phase in their nutrition journey, which is amazing. But this also means we have to be realistic with their current circumstances, schedules and abilities. Having patience with the process is a hard mindset to grasp, but one of the most important! I know you want to fit into that dress, those clothes, or weigh X, yesterday. But it takes time, effort and patience. Like anything truly worth it!
6. Find Enjoyment in the Process
If you don’t enjoy what you are doing, you aren’t going to stick with it. I have been working so hard to appreciate the decisions my husband and I are making together, the communication we continue to have and the new skills I am learning through renovating this house.
This is the same mentality with your nutrition journey. If you don’t enjoy the food you are eating, activity you are doing, and routines you are creating, you won’t stick with it. In the beginning, it’s experimenting and navigating what is working and what we need to adjust to help you be most successful and make a plan that works best for you! You are the driver, I am your passenger leading and guiding you.
7. Results are Earned, Not Given
I genuinely know if we snapped our fingers and the house was complete, we certainly would not value and appreciate the outcome. We have both talked about how darn appreciative we will be of the space when it is done! We will value the decisions we made and effort it took to get there. We will also take better care of the house and continue to maintain what we have done because of the personal effort we have installed.
When you do the work to take care of your body and work through challenges, you will appreciate the outcome SO much more. I promise, if I snapped my fingers and you weighed 10# less (or whatever success looks like to you), you may be happy momentarily, but it won’t last. You will quickly find something else to criticize about yourself and won’t be able to maintain your results. When you do the inner work and gain personal confidence you are able to navigate the tough days and continue to move forward.
8. Build the Foundation First before Adding the roof and decorating
I am ready to start putting all of our kitchenware in, adding light fixtures, furniture, decorating and re-shingling the roof. But we have to start with the foundation of the house and make sure the framework is set before we can dress it up!
With my nutrition coaching clients, the first several months working together is about building a strong foundation with nutrition habits, sleep, stress management, activity and hydration. Making sure they are primed for weight loss and sustainable success. We can’t get to the weight loss goal without making sure the habits to get there and maintain it, are installed!
9. Start small and Break It Up
When I looked at all the work we signed up for, it was straight up overwhelming. I decided to focus on one project or gap of time I had to complete a task and break it up in small steps. One day I focused on weeding and raking a section of the yard. Another day I tore up the old carpet staples in one bedroom. Another day I cleaned up boxes and swept. Another day I took down old wallpaper.
Keeping focused tasks and dedicating a realistic amount of time has made the process much more manageable. When you have a lot of weight to lose or a big nutrition goal, it can seem very overwhelming. I will often start with just experimenting with building one meal per day closer to nutrition targets. Add more natural activity or walks. One day of a formal workout, 30 min more of sleep, 10 oz more of water. We start where you are now, and slowly add one area at a time.
10. CELEBRATE Each Win, No Matter How Small It Feels
Reflecting on how far you have come is invaluable in appreciating the journey. We often get so caught up in just doing the things, that we forget to pause and recognize how far we have come. The progress we have made on the house in the last seven months is remarkable, especially given the very limited free time my husband has and how much of the work we did ourselves. A whole new heating and cooling system was installed, new electrical, plumbing, floors, ceilings, walls, trim, paint. Every part of the house has been touched and given NEW LIFE.
Oftentimes with my nutrition clients, when we stop and reflect on where they were and where they are now, they forgot how really awful they used to feel and the difference with how much better they feel consistently now. Improved confidence within themselves and what their body needs, sustained energy – no more afternoon crashes, regular digestion, better sleep, more appreciation for themselves, joy in their lives. It’s the hardest and most rewarding journey you will ever take.
“You will wonder how to do it, until you wonder how you did it.”