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stroller // similar pullover // turtleneck // leggings // swiftrun sneakers // raybans
Welcome Back & Happy New Year!
As I mentioned on IG stories, I really hate that the main focus of New Years Resolutions always revolve around weightloss because there is so much more that goes into being your best self without “decreasing the amount in which your body currently weighs“…but at the same time I do get it. The holidays hit all of us hard and come January we’re in search of a fresh new start, wanting to be better versions of ourselves and for most that does mean weight-loss.
While I don’t think your weight = your worth, I do know that when I’m feeding my body with nutritious foods and exercising daily, I am the best version of me. I’m more clear, I’m more present in my everyday, I have so much more energy and I’m all around a happier person. So yeah… I do understand the drive for wanting to becoming a healthier version of yourself at the start of a New Year. I mean…why do ya’ll think I’m obnoxious and doing a juice cleanse lol? It’s because I’m in a funk and have been for awhile. It’s something I’ve never done before and is something I’ve chosen to try. With that being said, I don’t recommend it or everyone. Especially if you’re someone who’s just starting their health/wellness journey. I’ll touch on this more whenever I write the recap of my juicing experience because it’s really not what I want to focus on today but I had to mention it because it is what initially sparked the idea for this post. Then as I read others resolutions and the tips health experts were sharing, everything seemed so drastic and complicated. I read one girls “January Challenge” that she shared on IG this morning and it was like “No alcohol; No Carbs, No Sugar or Dairy; Two Workouts a Day; 16hrs of Intermittent Fasting; Squats/Pushups at every bathroom break + more” for the whole month and after reading it I just thought “good freaking lord“. I honestly can’t think of anything that sounds more miserable lol. Everything about that challenge was so unattainable and unnecessary. It killed me knowing that somebody who truly wants to lose weight might have read that and thought those drastic guidelines were what they needed to follow in order to reach their goals. Yes doing any + all of those things will help you lose weight but in order to achieve real and long term results, you have to take baby steps. Otherwise you will give up.
I put myself in the shoes of someone starting from scratch and I find all of it so overwhelming. I feel like if you make too many goals and put too many restrictions on yourself in such a short amount of time that it makes it almost impossible for to succeed. You have to start small and gradually add on/make more changes as you go. That’s what I did at the beginning and is probably the main reason I’ve been able to keep the initial weight I lost 10+ years ago off. I made small, attainable goals that I could easily achieve without getting completely discouraged. I started out small by cutting out soda from diet, then eventually fast food and have continued from there! So below you’ll find 10 different options that you could start doing today in order to help you hit your long term goals.
**You don’t have to do them all but try picking one or two to start**
10 Realistic Short Term Goals for Becoming a Better You
- Cut out all sodas and sugary drinks from your diet
- Drink one glass of water before every meal.
- Go on at least one walk a day. Wether it’s a few miles or just around the block, make it a goal to do at least one walk a day.
- Cut out fast food. You don’t have to totally change your diet or immediately start counting calories but try cutting out fast food for just a week or two and see how you feel.
- Try incorporating at least one green vegetable into your diet a day.
- Start taking a multi-vitamin. I take this one!
- Set a daily water in-take goal. I use this water bottle tracker to help me hit my personal daily intake goal.
- Make it a point to move your body at least once every hour. Just set an alarm in your phone as a reminder (my apple watch does it for me) but make it a point to get up from your desk or off the couch and move your body every hour. It could be to lightly stretch or walk to the bathroom, just something to get you up.
- Take 5 mins to stretch every morning. Or night if you prefer! You could even take it a step further and make it 10 pushups. Just something to better start or end your day with.
- Cut out alcohol for a few days. This could be a game changer for my fellow wine lovers! You either do a 3-day no alcohol cleanse or make it a habit to not drink M-TH and such save it for the weekends!
**Bonus: Start writing in a gratitudes journal. This is mine and I love it.
What are some of your ideas for some achievable short term goals that we could add to this list?
xo,
Lauren
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