Welcome to 2022!
You’re likely entering this New Year with high hopes: things will settle down in the world and finally begin to return to normal.
I think we’ve all had enough of what these past two years brought us. It just hasn’t been a happy place to be!
If you’re anything like me, you’ve had your fill of restrictions, lockdowns and public safety protocols. You may have even packed on some “pandemic pounds” and have found yourself binge eating your favourite comfort foods.
Who wants boundaries there?
And who couldn’t use some comfort through these trying times?
I have a COVID confession of my own to make: I gained 20 pounds over the past 2 years. There…I admitted it. It’s the most I’ve gained in more years that I can remember.
I felt terrible and as far as I’m concerned, I looked terrible.
I couldn’t catch my breath. I had no strength or stamina and worst of all…my favourite clothes didn’t look right – and that certainly didn’t make me feel “right.”
Yes, I know. I’m a health coach. I supposedly specialize in helping people manage their weight, especially hormonal weight – and lose the excess. Since becoming a coach, I have, for the most part, been able to healthily maintain my body and balance my life.
But with the global pandemic, I just lost control.
Maybe you find yourself in that same place.
The last two years have been challenging, and maybe, like me, you’ve just not quite been able to gain enough traction to get back to where you want to be with your health and with your weight.
Or maybe you’re just beginning your own health journey. You’ve done the yo-yo dieting. You’ve tried everything out there, but in the long-run, it just hasn’t worked.
And if you’re anything like me, you’ve finally had enough. You want long-lasting success, you want a healthier lifestyle right now and you’re ready to find the balance that works for you in the New Year so you can finally feel great, and look great too.
Here are 5 ‘Easy-To-Implement’ healthy strategies to add to your routine and create a healthy (and lasting) lifestyle.
Healthy Tip #1 – Start Your Day Off With Hydration
Our nightly slumber can leave us quite dehydrated upon rising each morning. This is why you’re likely used to waking up ready for a tall glass of water. Hydrating first thing every morning is a simple healthy habit to create and follow.
Even better, starting your day off with a cup of warm lemon water has tremendous benefits.
This simple trick helps boost your system for the day, cleansing out toxins, jumpstarting healthy digestion, infusing your system with some beneficial vitamins and of course, helps rehydrate you from your night of sleep.
If you aren’t a fan of lemon water, you can add a small teaspoon of raw honey to sweeten things up a bit. Raw honey adds some extra health benefits too.
Infusing your water with cucumber and mint, berries, or orange slices are also fun options that add more flavour and enjoyment to your water.
Action Step:
- Try warm lemon water tomorrow morning and see how you feel afterwards. Enjoy!
Pro Tip: If you don’t have a water bottle you love, get one. (Camelbak and Swell bottles are great!) Take it with you everywhere, and be sure to drink it throughout the day.
Healthy Tip #2: Small Changes = Big Results
Does overhauling your entire life seem incredibly overwhelming?
You’re not alone.
Changing your entire habits in a blink of an eye, going from the drive-thru window to eating raw foods only can leave you feeling deprived.
That’s exactly why I don’t recommend such drastic changes.
Entire lifestyle overhauls often lead us to throwing up our hands in defeat and returning to old unhealthy ways. Any progress made is discarded simply because you’ve fallen off the wagon.
This also leaves you feeling like a failure. (P.S. – not true!)
The far more effective way to transform your habits so that you have lasting results is by making smaller changes over time.
What do you want to achieve ultimately?
Jot your ultimate goal down and brainstorm ways that you can get there – step-by-step. Start with one step at a time.
All forward movement will get you to those goals – you just have to keep putting one step forward.
You’re much more likely to succeed with your health goals if you make them reasonable to achieve. While you may not lose 40 pounds in a month you certainly can take steps each and every day to reach that goal.
The very best way to achieve your ultimate goal is to break your larger goals down into smaller, achievable steps.
Action Steps:
- Sit down and brainstorm your goals for the New Year.
- What are 1 to 3 long term goals you want to achieve?
- Break these long-term goals down into smaller steps and start moving forward with them.
- Celebrate once you achieve each smaller goal along the path to your ultimate success.
Healthy Tip #3: Be Intentional
If your health is what you want to improve, it’s time to get serious about it.
To be intentional about what you want to achieve, focus on planning your meals and adding more whole foods and healthful food options to your menu.
Decide that you’re going to make the most healthful food choices possible at every possible opportunity. This might mean you eliminate the junk from your pantry, or stop bringing processed food home.
If you don’t already plan your meals ahead of time, this is the perfect time to start.
Recipe and grocery list planning provides you with the feeling of being organized.
It also puts you fully in control of your meals for the week, and helps alleviate the stress of having to figure out what’s for dinner every day. Meal planning will also save you money and time along with your sanity.
Here are some ideas to get your juices flowing.
- Look through your favorite cookbooks
- Call Grandma for her favourite family recipes
- Create a list of your favorite healthful recipes to add to your arsenal
- Search Google for healthy recipes.
Use these to plan out your weekly menus so that you know what to expect each week and know how to shop at the grocery store.
It’s important to use recipes that are healthy, including whole foods that provide you with the healthiest nutrients.
Providing your body the best fuel possible is incredibly important, and you’ll soon be addicted to feeling incredible!
Action Steps:
- Sift through recipes and compile a list of the ones you’d like to make part of your new healthy routine.
- Get in the habit of writing a grocery list and sticking to it.
- Most importantly, start weeding out any processed foods that are lingering in your kitchen and replace them with healthier alternatives.
Healthy Tip #4: Prioritize Movement that You Enjoy
Without a plan of action and creating a routine, the days can easily slip away.
Is movement a part of your current routine?
If not, it’s time to start finding time in your schedule. Make moving your body every day for 30-60 minutes non-negotiable. Put this block of time right into your day planner.
If an intense hour at the gym isn’t a possibility for you, you don’t have to cut the idea of fitness out of your lifestyle! This is a common misconception. The reality is, the majority of people don’t spend 2 hours sweating buckets at the gym daily to stay healthy and fit.
When you make movement mandatory and enjoyable, you’ll find yourself looking at it as part of your routine as opposed to a pesky task you must undertake (and ultimately, procrastinate on – we’ve all done it.)
If you aren’t an intense workout type of person, enjoy a stroll around your neighborhood or through your favourite park part of your regular day. Or simply jump on your treadmill while listening to your favorite podcasts or an audiobook.
The main point is to find something that works for you and make it a regular, daily habit.
Action Steps:
- Consider what type of movement you enjoy. You don’t have to love it, but you do have to not want to avoid it.
- Think of 1to 3 types of movement (yoga, walking, swimming, dancing, etc.) that you enjoy and put them into your routine.
- Yep. Schedule them right into your calendar or planner.
Healthy Tip #5: Find YOUR Portion Size
Chances are, wherever you are in the world, supersized meals and eating to the point of feeling ‘stuffed’ (think all-you-can-eat buffets) are the norm for your society.
Our plates have actually grown in size over the years and it can be difficult to break the habits when we don’t even really think of them as excessive.
Tinkering with your portions to figure out the perfect amount to satisfy you, without overeating, is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your health and wellbeing.
You can go as far as measuring your food, but for a more simple approach, my favourite way to lessen my consumption is by simply using a smaller plate.
It’s such a simple solution that works extremely well.
When we use large dinner plates for our meals, the temptation is there to fill every square inch of it – and then the point is to finish the plate. If the plate is oversized to begin with, we’re already starting from being. Finishing it leads to overeating, even when we aren’t consciously making that decision.
When using a smaller plate, such as a salad plate or a luncheon plate, you can fill your plate, and even get that ‘full’ feeling when you finish – all while eating less.
Action Steps:
- Evaluate your plateware. Do you have smaller salad plates or medium sized saucers that you can use for your meals? If not, grab some from the store, and get ones you really enjoy the look of.
- Make each of your meals enjoyable to enhance your experience of eating.
- SLOW down and savour each mouthful. Add in extra chewing too.
- Pay close attention to your hunger signals. Tune into your body and stop eating when you’re satisfied – rather than stuffing yourself to the point of being full. There’s no reason to finish your plate if you just don’t need to. This is a huge piece to learning how to be in control of food and honouring your body.
These seem like such easy steps, but that’s the whole point of it. When you put together a plan for success – to reach the healthier lifestyle you desired, and implement it step-by-step, the simpler you make that plan, the more successful you’ll be.
And what of me? Well, I’m happy to report that I finally got my head in the right space, and I also got back on my healthy lifestyle routines too.
My winning results: I’ve lost my 20 pounds, got back into a daily exercise routine, returned to my proper hydration regimen, and got my eating habits back under control and into the healthy zone. I’m happily preparing, healthful, satisfying meals once again.
Honestly though, for me, it was a mindset shift.
Was it easy? No.
But most things we do that have awesome results take commitment and perseverance.
Is it worth it?
There’s so much to say to answer that question, but I’ll go with this: It’s so satisfying and rewarding (and SO worth it) to see those goals come to fruition. Shifting to a healthy lifestyle is worth it.
But that’s not just it. What you can’t put a price on is that feeling of success. Nothing beats the feeling of winning. Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels and you can’t put a value on your good health.
And I do know this too: If I can do it, YOU can do it.
If you need some help in getting “your mind in gear” and adding some small steps to reach your big healthy goals in the new year, I’d love to chat.
Email me at lynne@holistic-healthandwellness.com and schedule your NEW YEAR~NEW HEALTHY YOU focus session with me today. This is a free call and by the end of it, you’ll have some Next Step Strategies, A free tool or 2 to get you started and a simple Action Plan to set you up for success with your health. I’m here to help.
