Establishing Healthy Habits That Last

We all have good intentions, reasons to get motivated, the desire to do things in a better and healthier way.  However, sometimes it’s easier said than done.  We might do that new healthy habit for a few days or a couple of weeks and then we revert to our old ways.  Why can’t we make it stick? 

Here’s a few tips on making those new habits last a lifetime.  

Build

Build on another habit you already have established.  For instance, if you want to add a daily walk as your habit and you eat breakfast regularly, simply take a walk right after breakfast.  Then, as you repeat this over and over, taking the walk will be second nature.  Your new routine will be eating breakfast followed by a walk.  Repetition is key to making the habit stick. 

Baby Steps

Start small with your new habit.  If you want to take up running but have never run before, don’t try to go out and run 5 miles on day one.  Take it slow and gradual.  Try walk/run intervals for a while until you can comfortably run one mile with ease and build from there.  Moving too fast, especially with a physical habit, can lead to burnout or even injury. 

Specifics

It’s important to be very specific about your new goal.  If you say you want to “eat healthy” that leaves a lot of room for error.  You could start with something like, “eating 2 servings of vegetables with every meal”.  Or if your goal is to get more sleep, start with trying to get to bed 10 minutes earlier each day and increase to 15 minutes earlier after 7-10 days.  

Tracking

It’s important to track your progress so you know if you’re doing well and how far you have come.  Seeing your progress can be a great motivator and let you know what you’re doing is working!  Maybe you’re journaling your food, or tracking your daily steps, or recording your sleep schedule.  Whatever the habit is, success is always the ultimate motivation!

Reward

Sometimes we get carried away with this part but it’s still important.  Just adjust your reward so that you are keeping things on track in a healthy way.  If you’re trying to eat better, you wouldn’t want to reward yourself with a cupcake.  Try to avoid setting yourself back with a reward.  Choose something like treating yourself to a movie with friends or going for a hike in a place you’ve never been.  

Purpose

There will always be immediate motivation and the drive to keep going with your new habits but there should always be a purpose for it all.  The reason you keep doing what you are doing.  For example, you want to recover better after workouts, you want to be able to run around with your kids, you want to be a healthy role model for your grandchildren, etc.  Choose your WHY when you are making a new healthy habit.  It will be that extra fire in you to keep moving forward!

Start doing things that make you happy and healthy TODAY!