*This post may contain affiliate links which means I earn a small commission if you purchase something by clicking my link, at no cost to you. Thank you!
Deciding to get fit and lead a healthier lifestyle is a personal decision. It’s a decision that is so much easier to maintain with the support of your family. I had the amazing opportunity to interview wife, mom and Elite Beachbody Coach Becky Brossett about fitness & family support. Her insightful thoughts on getting her family onboard with her fitness goals, mom guilt and staying on track are sure to inspire you to reach your goals.
Fitness & Family Support
Deciding to take charge of improving your health and fitness is exciting! You set your goals, lay out a fitness plan and think about how you will feel when you reach your goals. You prepare a nutritious, healthy meal and then your excitement quickly fades when your spouse & kids whine, complain and refuse to eat it. You try to keep up your new healthy lifestyle but cooking extra meals for the kids and watching your husband eat juicy cheeseburgers & fries is wearing you down.
It’s not easy when no one else at home is interested in a healthier lifestyle. I asked Elite Beachbody Coach Brossett how she got her spouse on board. Her answer may have you thinking a little deeper about your relationship with your spouse.
“Larry is on board with whatever makes me happy. He’s a supportive husband. It breaks my heart when I see other women dealing with the issue of an unsupportive husband because that’s really not the essence of a marriage,” says Brossett.
Why Fitness
The interest in fitness started in high school as a way to control her weight and body image. According to Brossett she was a chubby kid and after having her feelings hurt by comments from others she became obsessed with being fit.
“I used to watch fitness shows on ESPN back in the 80s. I wanted to be like those people. I wanted to be fit,” remembers Brossett.
The now 44 year old says now she believes there has to be a bigger purpose than just the scale or trying to chase abs, “It will help you stay motivated if it makes you feel good, instead of chasing an appearance.”
Her reasons for pursuing a fit, healthy lifestyle are many. “I do it because I want to be the best example for my children, I want to be healthy, active, energetic and last a really long time for them. It’s important to me because I have people looking to me to be a beacon of hope that it can be done, that you can find success,” explains Brossett.
And it helps that she just plain loves it. She gives her workouts deeper meaning by dedicating them to her family and God.
Fitness Goals
She says she stopped placing goals on appearance because it wasn’t mentally good for her. Instead it’s just about showing up she says, “Whether it was a crappy workout or I just wasn’t feeling it, I just praise myself for showing up and doing it anyway. That progress and that consistency is what I’m chasing every single day. It’s just being my best and doing my best every day.” And those are her goals plain & simple. Along with getting stronger and having more endurance.
Staying on Track
So what helps her stay on track when she’s just not feeling? A change in mindset around fitness. “I think it’s important to get away from having in our minds that our fitness or nutrition journey has to be perfect in order for you to succeed. Perfection is an illusion, to quote my best friend,” explains Brossett.
She’s says we need to talk more about focusing on just showing up and doing something that makes us feel good, fills our cup and helps us move our life in a different direction. “That’s what I’ve been focusing on the last couple of years and I just love myself more because of it, ” she encourages.
What about when life gets in the way? She says the idea that you need to start all over is something she just doesn’t understand. “I’ve done 26 programs. Do you think I’ve done it completely perfect every single time? That’s a lie. People get sick, our kids get sick, you have an emergency. You just keep going,” says Brossett.
Restarting, she believes is why people never finish anything because they don’t have the mental capacity to keep going. It’s something we need to work on.
Treat Meals
Even a fitness & nutrition enthusiast like Brossett admits that she loves cocktails, burgers and tacos! “I can allow myself a treat meal but then I have to reel it back in because my goals are much larger than any craving will ever be,” Brossett says. She also believes we need to allow our selves to live as well and enjoy those treats without the guilt.
Different Levels Of Commitment
The mom of two says she recommitted to her fitness 11 years ago when her second son was born. While her husband is supportive she does admit he doesn’t like fitness and nutrition as much as she does. “He lets me do my thing, he has seen me grow because of it and because of that he will always be on board,” she emotionally says.
So what do you do when your spouse is bringing home cheeseburgers and ordering pizza while you’re trying to stick with your portion control containers?
“I do have to deal with that with my husband, I’m not going to lie. He’s not as committed as I am. And that’s fine, because at the end of the day I’m still going to do my thing. I am always 100% laser-focused on getting whatever food group I need in,” says Brossett.
Healthy Delicious Food
Dinner is the same for everyone, including the kids. She just may have a few more vegetables on her plate, “If I need to make an extra portion of vegetables for myself, that takes two seconds, I’ll do that.”
Many of their meals come from the FIXATE Cookbooks, ensuring they stay with clean nutrition. “We eat really healthy and delicious food and we just do it together,” Brossett says.
Her favorite go-to meal is Shakeology packed with spinach and collagen. It’s a staple in her daily nutrition. Her sons drink it too.
She’s also a fan of breakfast and is known for her runny eggs, “I can eat eggs at any time. I load up my plate with vegetables and put an egg on it and I’m the happiest person in the world.”
Zero Mom Guilt
Brossett admits she could do a better job on getting her boys to eat more vegetables, “It takes a lot of work. It’s this whole banter back and forth, just try it, you’re going to like it, if you don’t you can spit it out.” She’s been encouraging them to try new foods since they were babies and it has worked out.
Her thoughts on being a short order cook for her kids, “I’ve always told them, I’m busy, your Dad is busy and we’re not going to cook 10 different meals so you’re going to have to eat the food.”
And she doesn’t feel guilty about it one little bit. “I don’t have a lot of mom guilt because the way I see it I am preparing them for life,” Brossett says. She thinks we need to toughen up our kids because if we protect them from everything they’re going to drown. She wants her boys to be independent strong men and is starting to teach them now.
Her boys are very proud of their mom and her accomplishments, including being part of the Mes de Mas cast. Not only is she a cast member in Beachbody’s first Spanish fitness program, she is the intensifier. As in, oh this isn’t hard enough let’s kick it up a notch. Yeah, she’s a bad ass!
Final Thoughts
Although Brossett likes to go hard she says fitness doesn’t have to be extreme. Instead we just need to do what we love. “We need to do what makes us happy and really stop worrying about what other people are doing because it’s none of our business and focus on being our best self,” Brossett says. She encourages everyone to, ” just find something that you enjoy so that you show up every day with excitement.”
BECKY BROSSETT is a wife, mom and Elite Beachbody Coach. She is featured as a cast member in the new Mes De Mas fitness program. Learn more about Becky at beckybrossett.com and follow her on Instagram for daily inspiration.