Struggling To Stick To A Health And Wellness Routine? Try These 3 Quick Fixes
Having a health and wellness routine is essential to reaching your health and wellness goals, no matter what your goals are. You become what you do regularly. If you eat right, practice mindfulness, prioritize working out, go outside often and do all of the things that help you become healthier, you will feel more energized, lose weight, build muscle, think more clearly and other positive side effects. On the flip side, if you aren’t prioritizing healthy habits the majority of the time then your outcome will be one that leaves you with low energy, weight gain, muscle loss, brain fog and other negative side effects.
Although being consistent with a health and wellness routine is key to feeling and looking your best, it can be difficult to create one and even more difficult to maintain. The most common reasons for why it is difficult is a lack the time, resources and motivation needed to complete healthy habits. If you have been struggling to create a consistent routine for yourself, don’t worry. There are many things you can do starting right now to fix your routine so you can start practicing healthy habits regularly to feel your best. These are three things you can do now:
integrate the basics
One of the most common mistakes I see as a holistic health coach is the tendency to prioritize “additional wellness habits” over the fundamental aspects of wellbeing. When you are beginning your journey on building a healthy lifestyle, it is necessary to focus on the basics such as eating whole foods, making time to workout, practicing mindfulness, going outside more, spending time with loved ones, practicing joyful activities, etc. Get consistent with the basics and then you can invite room for additional wellness habits that may benefit your wellbeing. By narrowing your focus on the basic fundamentals of wellbeing you are making things more doable which in turn will help you build consistency. Focusing on too much at once, especially in the beginning of creating a routine, can be hard to keep up with and may result in failure.
set up reminders
If you don’t remember to complete a healthy habit then it won’t get done. However, if you set up reminders around you, you won’t forget to complete them. Reminders are key for building a consistent routine. Depending on the habits you are trying to build, the reminders you set will look different. The easiest form of reminders is setting reminders on your phone. This is great for ensuring that you complete your daily workout and meditations or for making plans to meal plan and book your workouts for the week. Other great reminders can look like leaving a “trail of breadcrumbs”. For example, always having a pair of sneakers by your desk to remind yourself to go for a walk, keep your journal and water by your bedside for easy access in the morning or leaving a full water bottle by your coffee machine to remind you to drink water before caffeine. Reminders help take away stress around forgetting to complete your habits.
have a plan in place
Having a workout plan, meal plan, a mindfulness plan, etc. sets you up for success by holding you accountable and taking away the guess work. I recommend creating a plan every Sunday before the busy week begins or follow one of the seasonal plans from my Glow From Within Guide. When you follow a plan you are more likely to stay motivated and stay on course. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Every Sunday plan your grocery list, meal plan, workout plan, journal ideas, meditations, etc. I keep my plan written in a planner which I keep visible on my kitchen counter daily so I stay accountable.