It’s arrived! 2024 if already here, if you can believe it!!
You’re probably starting off your New Year with high hopes: you’ve decided what your goals will be for 2024 – and you may have made some New Year’s resolutions.
Ah! … we ALL know about those resolutions, right? We promise we’ll do it all so much better this year and stay more committed. We plan to finally follow through all the way to the ACHIEVEMENT of that big lofty goal.
We tell ourselves, “It’s going to be different THIS year for sure.”
Then, for many of us, life gets in the way. Things get derailed and don’t go as planned.
I set my goals and resolutions for so many years. I don’t remember ever lasting past January or February for my goals. It all seemed to be so hard, and I gave up hope of ever hitting those goals that seemed so easy when I first made them.
I learned a huge lesson from that continual discouragement – which led me perceiving myself as a total and complete failure. The wind gets blown right out of your sails and what happens next?
You give up.
Does this sound familiar?
Well, guess what? You are NOT a failure, and it doesn’t have to be that way THIS year!
I have some helpful tips laid out below, and if you add them to your daily routine, you WILL end 2024 feeling accomplished, motivated and like a winner – because that’s exactly what you are!
I have 5 ‘Easy-To-Implement’ healthy strategies for you to add to your routine so you can 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, try Infusing your water with cucumber and mint, berries, or orange slices – these are fun options that add more flavor 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 all of your habits in the blink of an eye can leave you feeling deprived.
That’s exactly why I don’t recommend 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?
Write down your ultimate goal 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 take action by 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.
Be intentional about what you want to achieve. For example, 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 favorite family recipes
- Create a list of your favorite healthy recipes to add to your arsenal
- Search Google for healthy recipes or check out my Website.
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.
Just because an intense hour at the gym isn’t a possibility for you, that doesn’t mean you 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. When you see this habit negatively, you ultimately find yourself, procrastinating – we’ve all done it.
If you aren’t an intense workout type of person, enjoy a stroll around your neighborhood or through your favorite park. Make it a regular part of your day. You can also 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 certainly don’t 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’ are the norm for your society.
Our plates have actually grown in size over the years and it can be difficult to break these habits when we don’t even really think of them as being 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 favorite 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 savor 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 honoring 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 desire – and implement it step-by-step, then the simpler you make that plan, the more successful you’ll be.
And what of me? 2023 was a bit of a struggle for me – transitioning from a “closed down” world to a more social one. But I’m happy to report that I finally have my head in the right space, and I also got back on my healthy lifestyle routines too.
My winning results: I’ve 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 all of 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.
As we embrace this New Year of 2024, let’s go into it with lots of positivity and hope. Make your health your #1 priority.
If you need some help 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.
Schedule your HEALTHY FOR 2024 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.
How? Simply reply to this email and put “Healthy-For-The-Holidays” Strategy Chat in the subject line or email me at lwadsworth@verizon.net or book your strategy call >>here.<<
