Robyn Spurr

Personal Health and Weight Loss Coaching For Women

Favorite Posts

By

What Kind of Teacher Are You?

Imagine it’s your first day of Kindergarten. You’re nervous and excited and curious and bouncing with energy.

Throughout the day, your teacher cheers you on and praises what you do well…

  • What a beautiful picture.
  • Thank you for putting the crayons away.
  • What excellent manners you have.

You’re beaming.

On the second day of school, you enthusiastically race through the doors.

Now imagine, if on that first day, your teacher cruelly pointed out everything you did WRONG…

  • You’re not very good at coloring are you? That’s terrible.
  • Why can’t you spell your name? What’s wrong with you? Are you stupid?
  • You’re not as pretty as the other girls in this class.

It’s an extreme (and improbable) example, but imagine how you would feel at the end of the day.

Would you be excited to learn and grow and improve and return on the second day? Of course not.

Yet most of us speak to ourselves like the cruel teacher (day in and day out) and wonder why we feel stuck and unmotivated.

I’ve been studying the work of B.J. Fogg recently – a Behavior Scientist and Director of the Stanford Behavior Design Lab.

The guy knows what he’s talking about when it comes to behavior change.

Here’s what he has to say (in a nutshell)…

Emotions help us engrave + deepen our behaviors. If you want a behavior to stick, celebrate it as you’re doing it – and immediately after.

It’s VERY important to celebrate your little wins, no matter how small they are.

For most of us, it’s easy to criticize ourselves and difficult to praise ourselves.

But in order for our brains to learn new behaviors, we NEED praise + celebration + recognition + positive feedback. WE NEED TO FEEL GOOD.

Always look for ways you can celebrate your new behaviors IMMEDIATELY.

Even if it’s…

Hey, I didn’t screw it up TOO badly.

Celebration + compassion + congratulations on every small victory, no matter how tiny, works WAY better than criticism!

Just ask ANY teacher.

And if you don’t believe me, try an experiment…

High-five yourself joyfully and lovingly for a few days for every miniscule achievement. Even silly stuff like, “I washed my face today,” and notice how you feel compared to when you criticize the crap out of yourself for every “failure” or “mistake”.

Be a KIND teacher to yourself – and see what happens.

XO ~Robyn

Interested in a one-on-one coaching relationship with me? It would be an honor to work with you if and when the time feels right.

To learn more about Personal Health Coaching click HERE. 

To schedule a Discovery Session click HERE.

By

Creating Space for Change

Americans spend north of $60 billion annually trying to lose weight, on everything from gym memberships to weight-loss programs to fat burning shakes.

I think it’s safe to say the approach we’ve taken so far isn’t really working out for us.

But why?

In order to achieve lasting results, we need to transform our deeply rooted habits. And changing our habits requires space + time + energy + engagement.

Learning and assimilating new + healthier habits is tricky if you spend your days and weeks running from one thing to another with barely enough time to sit and enjoy a meal – or prepare a meal – or get a good night’s sleep.

You can’t learn and do better when you’re always adding more + more + more to an already overloaded plate.

If you want to improve your health, don’t do it in a way that will actually interfere with it.

Begin by taking an honest look at how you currently spend your days and ask…

  • What can I let go of?
  • Where can I create space?
  • Is now the right time?

Changing your habits – and ultimately achieving your health goals means giving yourself time to notice + reflect + process + experiment.

Even when we’re only working on one habit at a time.

My most successful clients are fully engaged. Coaching isn’t treated like something to be “gotten over with”.

The recipe for success has nothing to do with how much you know about nutrition or exercise.

The “secret” to success?

Create space. Change one thing at a time. Commit. Take action.

XO ~Robyn

Interested in a one-on-one coaching relationship with me? It would be an honor to work with you if and when the time feels right.

To learn more about Personal Health Coaching click HERE. 

To schedule a Discovery Session click HERE.

By

The Case for Not Giving Up

Ten years ago, I had a vision. To build a business dedicated to helping women create healthier bodies and more fulfilling lives.

Today, that business is thriving. The pieces have come together. My clients are brave + badass women I truly adore. The work is challenging (in the best way possible) and deeply fulfilling.

But it’s been a JOURNEY.

There were hundreds of times I thought about quitting – and two times when I came SUPER close.

Job offers were on the table.

Self-doubt. Fear. Uncertainty. I’m not good enough. Who am I to do this work? 

Here’s what I want you to know…

Setbacks + obstacles + wanting to quit are all necessary components of change, progress and success.

We often imagine change or “progress” as a linear graph. In reality, change and progress look more like this:

Progress stalls + dips + goes backward along the way.

There are a number of perfectly good reasons for this:

  • Maybe we need downtime — to think, reflect, regroup, reboot, or incubate something new.
  • Maybe we need to regress briefly — to dip into our old selves or old habits and remember why we are building new ones, like visiting an ex to remember why you left them.
  • Maybe we need to repeat something— to practice, drill, and/or test our skills under different conditions.

Or maybe it’s that we simply don’t have the skills yet to reach the next level of our progression and, like everything else in life, we need to accept that doing things badly is a necessary precursor to doing them well.

The only way to fail is to give up.

Quitting is something too many of us are good at. And there’s a reason for it.

When we’re struggling to achieve a goal and quit, we get immediate relief. The pressure is off. But eventually, we feel terrible about quitting.

My clients often hear me say, I’ll never give up on you.

When I speak those words, I mean them with my entire being. Because achieving a BIG goal requires overcoming BIG obstacles – and time. As much time as it takes. Your dream has no expiration date.

The journey of my business from initial vision to thriving coaching practice has been a wild ride rife with challenges. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Overcoming challenges builds up our resilience and self-respect.

When it comes to losing weight (or building a business or any goal you want to achieve), ask yourself this question…

Am I willing to commit to achieving this goal no matter what?

If the answer is yes, do yourself a favor and keep going. For as long as it takes.

XO ~Robyn

Interested in a one-on-one coaching relationship with me? It would be an honor to work with you if and when the time feels right.

To learn more about one-on-one Health Coaching click HERE. 

To schedule a Discovery Session click HERE.

By

Shame Free Eating

Healthy eating does not mean eating “good” foods and avoiding “bad” foods.

I wholeheartedly recommend you toss those labels out with the trash. Rubbish – be gone!

Food means different things to different people. Food can be…

  • fuel
  • reward
  • punishment
  • escape
  • shame
  • freedom
  • a way to bond with others
  • a way to check out

For me, food is mostly about information.                                          

Every time you choose to eat one thing over another, you’re voting for what’s really important to you in the here and now. That’s all. No good or bad. No right or wrong. Just a choice based on what matters most to you in that particular moment. Information about your current priorities.

We might choose one food over another…

  • to connect with loved ones
  • to fit in
  • to truly nourish our body
  • to honor our heritage or family traditions
  • to take the edge off a tough day
  • for straight-up joy and pleasure
  • because it’s convenient
  • etc. etc. etc.

No judgement here. You get to decide on your priorities. And sometimes other things win out over nutrition.

Instead of judging your food choices as good or bad, consider the reason behind them. And if that reason is to eat for pure pleasure, own it. Slow down and truly savor what you’re eating.

Whatever you decide to eat, drink, or do – choose with intention. When you own your choices instead of judging them, shame and guilt begin to melt away.

XO ~Robyn

Interested in a one-on-one coaching relationship with me?

It would be an honor to work with you if and when the time feels right.

To learn more about one-on-one Health Coaching click HERE.