New Year’s Resolution? Bad Habit/Good Habit

It’s that time of year, when some of us start to contemplate new beginnings. Those beginnings can be a variety of things: relationships, work, health and overall happiness.

It’s amazing how ‘this time of year’’ has us thinking of these things, when they should be at the top of our mind, all the time.

But if there is something like the holidays and the month of December that awakens our will to introduce change, let’s embrace it.

When I made the decision to dedicate more time to personal training, I did that with the intention to make people feel better. That is how my tag line evolved: Look better, feel better, and be better.

Now that we are approaching 2016 and you are thinking about improving something in your life, these three words integrate quite nicely. Whether you are struggling in a relationship, not enjoying work anymore or need help with your choices to live a healthier life, they all connect to ultimate happiness.

Happiness starts with you, your body, your mind and how you feel. I am going to break it down further, it starts with what you eat and drink.

Statistics state that what you look like is 80% diet and 20% exercise. If you think about it, this makes sense. The amount of fat on our body is controlled by how much we eat. Keeping that fat away is done by selecting healthy food choices and exercising. In my experience I have learned that how you feel is 50% diet and 50% exercise.

Diet is a big deal. So how is your eating? Here is one easy way to make a small change. Take a look at your bad habits and think if you could change three habits, what would they be?

  • Are you a late night snacker? This is what happens when you don’t eat enough during the day.
  • Do you skip meals then overate at the next meal? This is what happens when you starve yourself then binge at the next meal.
  • Don’t drink enough water? Do you include coffee, tea and pop in your ‘water’ consumption?
  • Do you drink too much pop? Or do you justify diet pop and think it’s ok?
  • Do you snack on processed food? Is most of what you eat, come out of a box?
  • Do you have left over chocolate lying around? If it’s there, you will eat it.
  • Do you order take out more than twice a week? Do you take the easy way out?
  • Are you drinking too much beer or wine?

These are just a few bad habits. Try taking one bad habit and work on changing it. We know it takes 21 days to change a habit (3 weeks). So try it. The sooner you start changing your habits, the faster you will start noticing changes in your health.

I am not saying you can never have anything on the bad habit list. What I am saying is that if you spend 90% of your time living with good habits that you have created: you can indulge the other 10% of the time. But it doesn’t become a habit. Then the holidays don’t become a time of year that you are scared of and you end up making resolutions that are never fulfilled.

This year could be a big year for you. But it starts with admitting you have bad habits, then creating a plan to replace those with good habits.

You can do it! I know you can.

Michelle