By Jillian Boston, Personal Trainer & Fitness Nutrition Specialist
Can you believe it’s already the end of August, how crazy?! I hope you all had an amazing Summer and that you are getting excited for Fall. With the start of a new season usually comes the start of new thoughts, new ideas, and new goals to go after. September is often a great time to reset after Summer and focus on a new goal or goals before the holidays hit. That’s why I wanted to chat with you about ‘habits’. We hear the term thrown around all the time both in a good light and bad light – a.k.a good habits and bad habits. But what really constitutes a habit and how do we create a habit or break a habit?! By google’s definition, a habit is: a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up. Hence why “bad” habits are so hard to break. On the contrary, can you imagine how powerful and impactful creating “good” habits could be?!
Often it feels daunting to break a habit because it is something we do everyday. But in reality all we have to do is change our mindset around it. For instance, if a goal you have is to cut down on sugar but you ‘need’ your coffee with sugar in it every morning, it probably feels like it would be impossible to break that habit. So instead of feeling like you have to give up the habit of drinking coffee all together, what if you keep the habit of having your coffee every day but start weaning off the sugar little by little each day. Before you know it you will be able to have your coffee without any of the add-ons and you’ve turned a habit you didn’t like into a habit you do like. Or say you want to break that habit of having wine every night with dinner. Instead of feeling like you have to give it up immediately, slowly start watering down your wine with soda water until you get to the point you don’t even want the wine but crave the soda water instead. A lot of the time making or breaking a habit just has to do with being willing to change our mindset a little bit. In both of these examples we realize that we actually didn’t ‘need’ anything but rather we got in the habit of doing it without realizing it. When you have less sugar in your coffee or less wine at dinner you end up feeling a lot better which is the catalyst to keeping up with the healthier habit. Once the good habits start to add up, there won’t be any room for the bad habits. AND the best part about a habit is that once you create it, it is so easy to maintain because you don’t even think about it!
This month I challenge you to look at the habits you want to break and also make a list of the habits you want to create. Once you write your habit goals down, make a plan to make strides toward your goals each day for just 21 days. Little by little your habits will change and I promise at the end of the 21 days the results will pay off big time! Below are 5 examples of healthy habits that you can start working on for the next 21 days:
- Exercise or move for 15 minutes
- Eat less sugar and more whole food based meals
- Drink at least 8 glasses of water
- Sleep for 7-8 hours every nights
- Practice 15 minutes of stress management
Now, I completely understand all of this is ALOT easier said than done. That is why all of us at Fitness Unlimited are here to help! Starting September 28th we will be running our LBD Program which is designed to help you learn how to make room for positive and healthy fitness and nutrition habits. As a bonus, we created a FREE 21 Day Habit Challenge Success Guide for everyone who signs up for LBD by September 6th. That way you have a jump start on building healthy habits before LBD even starts.
I have no doubt whatever habits you try to make or break this month, you will succeed. Now all you have to do is believe in yourself!
Looking forward to creating awesome Habits with you this September!
Jillian
For more information on our LBD program click here (Nutrition & Weight Loss) or email jillianboston24@gmail.com.
