The Busy Person’s Guide to Setting Health Goals and Creating New Eating Habits
This was helpful to me and may be helpful to you or someone in your life, a co-worker, neighbor, friend, relative or anyone you know that has said; ‘I just don’t know where or how to start getting a little healthier or losing a few pounds.’
When your to-do list never ends, finding time to focus on proper eating can feel impossible. You don’t have an extra hour to batch cook meals. (And, if you did have an extra hour, you’d spend it sleeping.)
Following some of these tips doesn’t require a big time commitment or drastic, energy-draining changes. These tips can get you started towards a healthier lifestyle without turning you upside down.
How? With these 3 steps:
- Work with the time you have.
- Experiment with small, healthy changes.
- Stick with the ones that fit your life.
It may sound a little too simple, but it’s an effective strategy. Focusing on what you can do is the key to reaching your goals without getting overwhelmed and giving up. Think Minutes, Not Hours
You may not have a free hour in your day, but you probably have 15 minutes to spare. That’s more than enough to start building healthy habits.
To figure out when you might squeeze in a little food prep or light activity, do this exercise:
Draw a weekly schedule on a piece of paper (or use an online calendar). Divide each day into 15-minute segments and write in what you usually do during that time. Then put a number in each segment:
1 for a high-priority task
2 for a medium-priority task
3 for a low-priority task
4 if that segment is free time
Your high-priority tasks shouldn’t be limited to work and important errands. Quality time with family and friends is worthy of a 1, along with any other activity that means a lot to you. (If you consider the hour you spend watching TV after dinner a necessary pleasure, give it a 1.)
How many 4s did you end up with? If any are at a time of day, when you have more energy, they’re prime spots to devote to your health. If you have no promising 4s, take a look at your 3s. Would you be willing to spend that time improving your health instead?
Whatever time you end up with, start there. Don’t feel guilty if it’s not much. It doesn’t take long to start a few habits that you can build on in the coming weeks.
Set Small Goals
Now that you’ve found room in your schedule, your next step is to set one or more small, specific goals to tackle in the time you have. When we say small, we’re not kidding. Your first goals should be so tiny, they’re a little embarrassing.
Why make the goal so small? The smaller the goal, the less time and motivation it takes to accomplish. And every goal you accomplish fuels your motivation to do more. Below are some examples of how you can transform big, time-consuming goals into approachable, small ones:
- Big goal: Workout every day for twenty minutes.
- Small goal: Walk for five minutes after lunch.
- Big goal: Pack a healthy lunch every day.
- Small goal: Take a piece of fruit with you tomorrow.
- Big goal: Stop getting fast food for dinner.
- Small goal: Swing by the grocery store for a rotisserie chicken.
- Big Goal: Walk 2000 steps a day.
- Small Goal: Park a little further from the work or store entrance.
At the end of each week set one more very small goal to focus on for the week. Doing so while continuing with the previous goal. Before you know it you will have made three or four changes that are making a huge positive impact on your health.
Start with goals you want to work on (not what you think you should work on), and you’ll quickly gain momentum that will carry you toward your goals.
A few additional tips that can be used to be just a little more active and healthy.
- Tip: Shop the parameter of the grocery store or start shopping in the produce section.
- Tip: hand wash dinner dishes rather than using the dishwasher.
- Tip: Stand when on the phone.
- Tip: This is odd but, use the upstairs bathroom or a bathroom on a different floor at work.
- Tip: Walk around the house when using apps on your phone.
- Tip: Use a 9″ plate for meals rather than a large plate and wait 5 minutes before going for seconds.
I hope these tips are of some help to you or someone you know.
Thanks for reading
Be fast, Be safe, Have a blast
Mike