Often, my peers in the health and fitness industry will trot out this gem: "Don't think about it as changing your diet/exercise plan... consider it a total lifestyle change!" Oh, is that all? I just need to change MY ENTIRE LIFESTYLE? I mean, was that meant to be a pep talk? This is one of the trite phrases I would love to see the end of - right up there with "Drink 8-10 glasses of water per day!" "Lifestyle change." Sounds pretty fussy. I think we can simplify it. Heck, I know we can. What about this: "I want to understand how my body actually works, and to introduce about three simple, sustainable changes to make it work better and feel better." I mean, it certainly doesn't roll off the tongue like most of our favourite wellness cliches (those things plastered all over your Facebook wall with terrible fit-spiration photos - "Strong is the new skinny!" or whatever). But at least it feels somewhat do-able. No wonder people bow out before they've had a chance to reap the benefits of good nutrition and a sensible amount/type of movement. As a fitness professional for 20 years and counting, and a Registered Holistic Nutritionist,* I feel it is my duty to apologize to you, the unsuspecting and uber-trusting public. For filling your brains full of these messages that make it sound like a "lifestyle change" is some kind of easy thing that anyone can do. It's not. You're not a failure for not having mastered it. Changing your entire lifestyle is massive. Really. A very, very hard thing to aspire to. But changing one or two or, maybe, three little things? Things that will get you feeling better almost right away and that don't require you to devote eons of your precious spare time to obsessing about diet or exercise? I'll bet you could do that. You could definitely do that. *What does it mean that my autocorrect constantly wants to change this to Registered Hostile Nutritionist?