It’s Not Too Late To Still Work On Your Health Goals

Week 1 of No More Weight Loss Resolution

It’s time to dive into changing the way you view your weight through creating a healthier relationship with food and fitness. And don’t worry, it’s not too late!

I intentionally am running this challenge at the end of the year, because we tend to decide that the year is over, goals haven’t happened, we’ve failed, and might as well wait to start over next year.

And then all of a sudden, everything is on the table! You’re eating more, moving less, scrolling social media more, hating your life and wondering why you even try in the first place.

OR you hyperfocus on dieting and workouts so much that your life revolves around “health” and you no longer have a life you look forward to enjoying.

I’m here to change that!

Because with a few small tweaks over the next 6 weeks, you’re going to feel more confident in your food and movement choices, change your relationship to it all, while still seeing progress and enjoying the holidays to come.

Check out The No More Weight Loss Resolution Plan for the full 6 week breakdown

This first week is all focused on getting things set up and ready to dive into. Nothing extreme, but getting honest with where you’re at, where you want to go, and what you need to do in order to achieve them.

So let’s dive in!

Wheel of Life

The first thing we need to do is check in on your life. How are things looking, honestly?

I’ve attached a copy of a Wheel of Life I’ll be referencing that you can download and use yourself. But the goal here is to be really honest with how you’re feeling about things, and how nourished you feel about it.

Not good or ok, but nourished. You know when you do or eat something that not only tastes great but makes you feel great too, like you’re doing something good for yourself? That’s the goal here.

You’ll notice that the topics aren’t just about health, but your career, relationships, finances, hobbies, etc. All of these things affect how you live your life and, yes, approach health and weight loss.

Be sure to honestly fill this out because it’s going to not only help you now with setting goals, but also give you something to focus and be aware of. You may not have even thought that a certain area of your life was really draining you until you’ve filled this out.

So step one to success and healing will always be acknowledging it.
And then we can move onto taking action.

Brain Dump and Goal Setting

I LOVE a good brain dump. It’s been a part of my life since 2017 when I first wrote my journals. 

Of course we’ll be setting goals now too, but I want you to dump ALL the thoughts in your head now.

Grab a journal and start writing:

• What are you afraid of?
• What are you excited about?
• Why do you want to lose weight?
• Why do you think you haven’t been able to lose weight?
• What do you really want to focus on for 6 weeks?
• What actually seems realistic for you?

And whatever else comes to your mind.

The goal with the brain dump is to get all the fears, questions, excitements, wants and expectations out. Once you can see them on the paper in front of you and not rolling around your head, you can finally feel in control.

That’s why I like journaling so much. Because once it’s cemented on paper, you can no longer overthink it as much. It can’t keep running around and growing in your mind.

It’s stuck on paper and can finally be rationalized.

So once your brain has been dumped, it’s time to set some real goals. We’re going to base it off of my 59 Days to Habit Change journal, but here’s what you need to know.

I want you to pick 1 food goal, 1 fitness goal, 1 hobby goal, and 1 final goal in whatever area you want.

So for example, my goals are to focus on eating protein daily, go for a collective 60 minute walk daily, read at least one book and actually work through this course I found that’s interesting to me.

It doesn’t need to be overcomplicated, but I want there to be a reason behind why you’re doing this.

Again, for example, since I’m working out, I know that getting more protein will be beneficial for me. I also know that I feel better when I’m focused on healthy eating, and more protein automatically makes me want to continue to eat healthier.
Daily walks keep me wanting to be active and choose to move more throughout the day. So by trying to walk throughout the day and get up to an hour of movement in, I’m going to keep feeling good.
I have SO many books I want to read, that I’d like to commit to at least one. Even if I don’t read every day or it takes the full 6 weeks to finish, I’ll be happy to have another adventure under my belt.
And finally, I love to keep learning and found a good deal on a continued education course for my Personal Training Certification. Since I am technically certified, it’s good to keep learning to, not only help you reading this as we go through our Year of Health and Hobbies, but also for me to keep my mind sharp with new information.

All of these are based around me wanting to feel better, and through experimenting (which is what we’re diving into next) I’ve noticed what does and doesn’t work for me.
So with writing down your goals, know that some might change. Maybe I actually am more solid with my protein than I think, and I actually want to focus on getting more fruit in (I write as I grab the blueberries I forgot to eat this morning…). Or maybe I decide I want to focus more on baking as this month’s hobby than reading later on.

These may seem like silly comparisons, but again, the goal is to teach you how to be more connected to your body. And that starts with allowing flexibility.

Once you have these goals written down, I’d put them somewhere that you can look back on them. If not daily, at least weekly to keep them fresh on your mind.

So let’s experiment!

Experimenting with Food

Now we’re focusing on the action steps to creating this change. Each week we’ll slowly add one more thing to work through so you feel like you can actually let these changes compound, rather than adding in 5 new things at once for nothing to stick.

So this week it’s the food experiment. Because with an experiment, there’s no success or failure, there’s just an outcome. And with that outcome, YOU get to decide what it is you want to do with it.
Do you want to keep it? Do you want to toss it? Do you want to try something new?
But ultimately it puts YOU back in control of your life. 

I have a sample page of my Food Experiment in my Healthy Balance Starter Kit when you join the Diary. You also get weekly updates and extra bonuses to walk you through this challenge, so be sure to join if you haven’t already!

If, however, this is something you really want to focus on more, I’d recommend grabbing my Food Experiment journal to get the full 30 day physical copy.

Check out What to Do If You’re Tired of Counting Calories for more info on the food experiment

But here’s the goal with starting the Food Experiment first. You’ve been dieting, following meal plans, your favorite creators recommendations, a Pinterest board of recipes you’ve never touched and who knows how many cook books that are collecting dust.
You’re on information overload at this point, and may have forgotten that people used to like eating cottage cheese as a snack, and not a magic ingredient to throw in EVERYTHING.

This first week, I don’t want you to make any changes to your diet or the foods you’re eating at all. All I want you to do is be aware of how you feel throughout the day.

• How did you feel after breakfast?
• Did you eat breakfast?
• Did you drink water throughout the day?/ Have you tried drinking water?
• Did you feel hungry right after a meal?
• When did you snack?/ Did you snack out of boredom or true hunger?
• Did you have enough energy to get what you wanted done today?
• What was your favorite meal?

Your only goal this week is to be aware of how you’re feeling throughout the day.
Next week we’ll dive into the next steps and specifics of what to do with that information.

And that’s it for Week 1 of the No More Weight Loss Resolution Challenge!
Keep your eyes peeled for next week and be sure to join the Diary where I’ll be sending you everything right to your inbox.

I know you want all the information now, but the goal is slow and steady.

So get comfy with your goals, don’t overthink them too much, work on being aware of the foods you eat and HOW your body feels after eating, take notes and follow the Food Experiment printout or journal, and get excited! 

Small steps lead to big changes over time, and this is just the first step.