11/5/2020

Deciding to make a change in your life is never easy. Breaking old habits and creating healthy ones can be challenging and even discouraging at times. However, it is not impossible.

Whether you are looking for a positive outlook on life, wanting to change your diet and eat nutritious foods or you need a new workout plan, the goal is to start TODAY. Changing to a healthy lifestyle is a common goal, but where should you begin? After deciding you want to make a change, the next step is to believe you can actually do it and come up with a plan.

How can I change my unhealthy lifestyle?

• Identify the bad or unhealthy habits in your life that you want to change. Then, for each habit come up with a reason you want to change. Maybe it’s for your own mental well-being or so you can do more outdoor activities.
• Hold yourself accountable for making those changes. Don’t blame others or a lack of time for not being able to change your bad habits. Just like you would hold a loved one accountable if they made a promise, make a promise to yourself.
• Remove the negative triggers in your life. If social media makes you feel bad about yourself, delete the account. If drinking alcohol makes you crave a cigarette, take a break from alcohol. You probably already know what triggers your bad habits, so find a way to avoid those triggers.
• BELIEVE that you can change. Half the battle in finding success is telling yourself you can do something. Ignore your negative self-talk and replace it with a visualization of you finding success in the changes you want to make.
• Know that it will take time and you might have setbacks. Changing isn’t easy and there might be days where you fail. Instead of letting that failure win, just continue working hard.
• Make a plan with goals and take baby steps. Just like you have a schedule you must follow at work or at home with certain tasks you must complete. Your new healthy lifestyle should also have tasks and a plan to follow.

Why goal setting is important

Setting healthy goals is one way to come up with a plan on how to kickstart your new healthy lifestyle. Setting goals gives you something to focus on. Additionally, goals allow you to measure your progress and see how much you have achieved.

When setting your goals, BE REALISTIC with yourself! If you want to quit smoking, lose 50 pounds and run a marathon it’s not going to happen overnight! Start small and focus on one goal at a time to avoid overwhelming yourself. If you want to lose weight, make small goals on how to do it such as working out at least 3 times a week and adding more vegetables to your plate when you want seconds.

Keep a journal or track it in your phone to make sure you achieve those small goals weekly. When those goals just become a part of your weekly routine add a new, small goal such as only eating out once a week or adding another day of exercising to your routine.

Remember…small goals equal BIG CHANGES!