14 days. 30 days. 98 days?! When it comes to fitness, you typically hear many claims to accelerate your weight loss quickly. Fourteen weeks to healthy living sounds like a long time for an initial journey, right? Right! Read on to find out what you need to have to establish health goals with confidence!
Why a long-term health strategy?
When I thought about what I wanted to commit to in terms of intentional habit and wellness changes, I always knew that I wanted to pursue a longer time frame. Believe me, I w Inspired by Scola Dondo’s own journey, I thought about how much time there was between now and my birthday, which is mid-November. Shout out to birthdays just around Thanksgiving! Usually when we get to that point in the year, things get real with all the desserts and seasonal hearty foods. So, planning and implementing long-term health goals now should lead to greater success even after the 14 weeks. I’m trying to change my life fully, y’all!
Healthy living in 2020…to date!
When 2020 began, I was determined to make several lifestyle changes. The first involved shifting my career direction, which I took the first step in March. The other was around my eating and exercise habits. Specifically, I wanted to increase exercise and plant-based foods (I’m not vegan, though) and ditch processed and sugar (chocolate lover here!) January and February started well on those fronts and I saw some promising scale changes. Then came the coronavirus and like everything else, disruption galore. Then the social movement for justice and equality intensified and I found myself in a sea of stress and subsequent stress-eating. I ate away the progress and was in a negative mind space.
Shift 1: Reclaim control of your health goals
It is easy to feel hopeless and powerless when the world around you is in flux. One thing that I’ve held fast to is that stress does nothing good for our body, mental, emotional, or spiritual state. As Audre Lorde so beautifully said, “caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation…” By downing myself in sugar, sorrow, and other destructive habits, I wasn’t doing anything healthy for myself. I’ve since learned how to reframe stress to focus on insights but it isn’t easy!
Shift 2: Preparation and mindset are key
Before you embark on any type of change, what is your mindset? For each of us, the reasons will vary. As will the exact methods. In any case, preparation and mindset are essential components. When I’ve attempted weight loss in the past, I typically began from a mindset of disdain for my body and desire to be a specific size. Sometimes there was a change in diet and increase in exercise, other times not. Before getting into the tactics, it is crucial that you find your why and that it is rooted from some place of strength. Perhaps you are faced with a medical condition to which diet can help. Rather than hating your body for being in this position, acknowledge that you are still able to make changes. All is not lost.
Strength not sabotage.
Shift 3: Accountability for your health goals
Here’s where my community comes in. Yes, you! I’ve never publicly shared my goals, I typically just pursue them. While I won’t be sharing my exact weight and size goals, I do want to share my progress, triumphs, and learnings along the way. I’ll do this monthly on the blog and share commentary in between on my social channels (Instagram, Twitter, etc.), so stay tuned!
Are you on a healthy living journey? If so, I’d love for us to share encouragement! Let me know in the comments and be sure to follow on my social channels. YOU GOT THIS!
