I was recently inspired by two women who have decided not to let the holiday food frenzy set them back this year. They both have set their minds firmly to expect health success and progress from Halloween to after New Year’s instead of letting the next few months be considered a “much earned break” or a “once a year” treat that lasts 65 days long.
Fabulous Lady #1 decided that the holidays are not a legitimate reason to pause her health or her successful weight loss. She realized that in 2014, she would look back on November, December and January and regret losing ground or even just staying stagnant in her goals. She is going to stick to her guns and plow through the upcoming weeks of parties, food and holiday stress expecting the best of herself. And let me tell you a secret: Fabulous Lady #1 and YOU are both extremely more capable at consecutively stringing together small healthy decisions than you realize or think you are.
Inspirational Lady #2 has chosen NOW as the right time to begin optimizing and improving her health. To be honest, most of us don’t want to hunker down and start a new workout routine and tackle new eating habits right before this time of year. Yet, this inspirational lady has chosen to fight hard for her health this holiday season. What better time to start than now anyways? She has the motivation, she knows what she is capable of and she is choosing to prioritize her long-term health and satisfaction with her body over the temporal and fleeting taste of sugar.
Well done ladies! Thank you for your stellar examples and thank you for inspiring this post!
These gals have gone through a mental process to be where they are at right now, but I want to encourage you to start that process now. Starting with Halloween candy tonight….
Tips to stay healthy this holiday season
And not to just stay healthy, but to make PROGRESS.
1. Find Your Motivation. Easy to say, right, but the first step is to focus on why you want to be healthy this holiday season. How important is your health? How important is it to look great in that New Year’s Eve dress? How important is it to not eat foods that flare up your joint pain? How motivated are you to reach your percent body fat goal by Jan 1, 2014?
2. Bolster Up Your Confidence. You need to believe that you are capable of forward progress. How confident are you that you can make healthy decisions Oct 31 to Jan 2? Believe you can set small goals to handle each tempting situation. Believe you can achieve weight loss, reduce holiday alcohol intake, eat vegetables at every meal, or limit how much dessert you eat. If this is your sticking point and you are not sure if you can do it, call me. I’m serious. I promise that I can convince you that you are capable of battling for your health and making progress. No strings attached, call 952.224.1919. and ask for Maggie.
3. Decide on Your Big Picture Goals. It’s ok to go into November wanting to be healthy but there is value to a game plan. Decide what you want to accomplish by January. Picture yourself on January 3, 2014. What do you want to say? ‘Man, I actually lost 4 pounds since Halloween!’ ‘I am so proud of myself for never feeling guilty about how much dessert I ate!’ ‘Wow, I fit in three workouts every single week since October.’
4. Pick Five Small, Doable Objectives for Every Week. You have your overall goal but this is your strategy to get there. This is where common sense nutrition (Drink 96 oz of water daily; eat 3 cups of vegetables daily; allow dessert only twice weekly) and logistics of exercise (Put walking shoes on top of my desk 3 days a week; schedule 8 personal training sessions at keep them; rent a workout DVD from the library every week) come into play. I’m full of ideas if you need a little help!
Here is a mental picture: Imagine yourself stringing together healthy decisions everyday. Every great decision lights up a new, little bulb and each light bulb on your strand is important. When you have hundreds of little bulbs lit up, they contribute to the overall effect of the holiday lights.
