Lifestyle - April 3, 2019

How to (Actually) be Motivated to Make Healthy Choices

brighton keller using Vitamin to make healthy smoothie

Hi friends! I’m diving into health and wellness with today’s post and I hope it’s something y’all are interested in talking about. I think it’s a topic so many of us struggle with on a daily basis, so why not break it down like everything else? I’m not a health guru by any means, but I think we can all offer encouragement and what we’ve learned from our own personal experiences.

Making healthy choices is easier said than done if you ask me. I want to make them, but so often I find myself struggling with it. I have a feeling a lot of you understand where I’m coming from. But with it still being (kind of) the new year, I wanted to take some time to reflect on how/what *actually* motivates me to make healthy choices. Because I DO feel like I’ve made strides this year and I’m pretty proud of myself! Hopefully this helps you too and you can share what you do!

Think about your why

Turns out, knowing your WHY is just as applicable to health and wellness as it is to business. If you don’t know why you’re working toward something, then it’ll probably make it pretty easy to quit slash give up. I’ve worked so hard to know my WHY more often before starting things over the last couple of years, and it’s truly amazing what it can do for you.

When it comes to figuring out your why, it’s not a one size fits all thing. Some are more short term like you’re getting married, going on vacation, running in a marathon, etc., which are great, but for making healthy choices to become a lasting habit, try to think more long term. Maybe your why is so you can be active with your kids or it’s to help prevent a disease that’s genetic in your family, or because you want to do all you can to feel your best. Whatever it is, it’s personal to you and your situation. For me, SO much of my why is mental health – maybe yours, too?

Knowing your why kind of lays the foundation for making healthy choices, so really take some time to reflect and think on it. Maybe even journal about it? Sometimes when I journal, I’ll suddenly write something that hadn’t occurred to me before and things just click.

Put yourself in a position to succeed

I know whenever I make even one healthy choice it feels so good and naturally gives me the motivation to make another one. It’s like this magical wildfire that catches on and I try to run with it for as long as I can. What usually throws me off is when I get out of my usual schedule. When I’m home, waking up in my own bed, following my morning routine and having my quiet time, I thrive. It’s while traveling and visiting new places where I tend to wander off course. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s fine to relax and indulge on vacations (do it all the time), but I have to admit, nothing feels as good as being home and making choices that benefit my long term goal of living well and being healthy. Y’all know what I mean?

Basically what I’m saying here is, if you know you really want to start (or keep) making healthy choices, put yourself in the position to do it! Maybe do a little less traveling for a while or say no to a few happy hours. Do what you have to, to let that amazing feeling I was talking about catch and let one positive choice lead to another. Let go of the FOMO and do what you know is truly best for you and your health.

Create some accountability

There are two kinds of accountability partners out there. The kind where you just complain a lot to each other about how you’re not reaching your goals and then you go for margs. And then the kind that holds you to it when you said you’d go to the gym with her at 530 pm on a Friday. If you’re serious about your goals, I’d make sure to opt for option number two. Or maybe even get a personal trainer if it’s in your budget? Or a health coach?

Getting to the gym can just be hard some days, though, right? I definitely go up and down with my motivation to workout, but I did write this post a little while back on how you can make it a little easier to want to get in some exercise. I reference it all the time when I need reminding how simple it can be to just MOVE!

Keep your goals small

Several small goals are much, much more approachable for me than one giant goal. If I have one giant goal, like get a six pack, for example, I usually feel so intimidated that I don’t even want to start. Small goals on the other hand, like simply moving my body every day, feel much more doable. So then when I make it to a barre class or go for a walk, I feel like I’ve accomplished something, which leads to that catching feeling I mentioned above.

To visualize your goals, maybe start by making a list Sunday evening of the things you want to do the coming week to help motivate you to make healthy choices. It could look like this:

  • Go on 3 30 minute walks this week
  • Make dinner at home 5x a week (leftovers count!)
  • Eat something green with every lunch
  • Be off my phone by 930 pm at least three nights
  • Go to barre (or whatever class you prefer) at least once

Feels totally doable, right?! You got this!

Find someone who inspires you

This is when I love the online world. There are so many amazing fitness people online that offer free meal planning slash prepping tips, workout ideas and fitspiration in general. Make sure you find people who actually inspire you though, not people who unintentionally make you feel bad about yourself. You want to look at their profile to lift you up, not bring you down. I like following this person and this person – they just seem like people I’d want to know in real life! Let me know if y’all would want to see a post on people I follow who inspire me?

OK y’all, I definitely want to hear from you on this one! PLEASE, flood the comments with what you do to get motivated to make healthy choices!

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