Wait Till Monday?

 Monday... for many people, it is the start of a new habit or a new journey!

Habits help to automate your behavior (whether good or bad), provide a structure for consistency and can be the reason you keep doing certain things.  

Having habits you wish to change shouldn’t make you feel as though anything is hopeless.  Habits are the foundation for your sustained success with health. 

How can we form new habits? 

In the same way you can break old or bad habits, you can also deliberately create new and effective ones to improve your health. However, before doing  so, it is important to make sure the new behavior you are attempting to learn are ones you actually want to keep. The easiest way to figure out the right habits to build is to identify the ones that will have the impact on the success of your health journey. Whether your goal is to improve fitness/health, lose weight, increase strength or just feeling better in general, all of the following will apply, and therefore I think it is best if you focus on making habits surrounding these key areas. 

A story: 
I have struggled for a long time to get motivated to lose weight. Every day, I would tell myself , "Okay, today I am not going to have dessert and will work out". Then, when evening comes, all I would do is pig out on food, and then the endless cycle of telling myself I'd try again the next day.  Then I finally realized I didn't need to wait for Monday. Every minute is a great start.  For example, just piling more veggies on your plate tonight will be a great first step. 
Some days, I got frustrated because I didn't see the results I was looking for,  but that's okay because I have  come to understand that it's a journey, not a race! And the beginning is taking the first step to a lifestyle change!

Where should I start? 

Here are a few examples

1. Rest:  Getting enough sleep

Part of allowing yourself to do the things you want to do is having the energy to do so, which largely comes from having enough rest. I have found having a sleep schedule really helps remind me to try and ensure I get 7-8 hours of quality sleep. For me, this is as simple as using alarms to keep a consistent bedtime and waking time, even at weekends. However, other useful strategies you should consider include: reducing screen time at night, reducing your alcohol intake, creating a nighttime ritual to wind down and removing distractions from your bedroom. Prioritizing sleep is important for overall wellbeing, and setting phone reminders, or using sleep trackers can help you identify whether you are truly getting enough quality sleep.

2. Nutrition: Eat the right foods and the right amounts

Along with getting enough sleep, a good diet is a fundamental factor when considering your energy levels, as well as many other areas of your health. As a qualified Nutrition Consultant, regardless of the diet you "follow": if you don't observe the principles of a balanced diet, it can affect your ability to reach the desired outcome. For most women, the first step to consistent healthy eating is learning about the importance of meal prep. When you prepare meals in advance, you are committed to eating whatever it is you make the next day. This also reduces the chances of you grabbing a chocolate bar because there is no nutritious food around.

As you make a continual effort to eat the healthy meals you prepare, you actually follow the diet. This means you are consistently eating nutritious meals that provide you with energy. 

In order for meal prep to work, you will need to organize yourself in a way that best suits your personal circumstances. For example, do you want to meal prep for the entire week (where you will freeze some portions)  at weekends? Or perhaps you want to meal prep for 2-3 days of the week when you know your schedule is crazy and you need to have healthy meals ready to go. Once you have worked this out you can establish how many portions you need to cook and then write a shopping list. I also encourage to allocate time for shopping and cooking in your schedule to ensure success. 

3.  Fitness: Making time to be active

Finally, if you have all the energy you need, and are well-rested, you can work out. I bet after reading the first two points you can  probably guess I am going to say "create a workout schedule". As silly as it may sound, it's true! Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. My recommendation is that you book time in your week to exercise. A lot of people say "I know what I need to do, I will get my workouts in, trust me.". But the truth i actually that 60% of women surveyed mentioned they don't end upgetting the results they desire, and 60% of women also confess to not compleing all the workouts they had hoped to complete. I bet you can guess the biggest reason why women aren't getting all their workouts in: because they have "no time". More often than not. "having no time" really ust translates to you didn't make time.