4 Fool-proof ways to develop healthy habits, even when you’re a busy mama
There are a million excuses as to why we haven’t taken control of our health but the one I hear from mamas most often is that they’re too busy to worry about their health. And mama, I GET IT. When you’re the family therapist, personal chef, chauffeur, executive assistant, housekeeper, nurse, and all the other things your family needs you to be, it’s hard to find time to think about your own health.
But if 2020 taught us anything, it’s that our health is one of the most important things. When we’re healthy we can be there for our families when they need us most. If that’s your goal in life, then I want to help you turn healthy habits not just into something that you try to do every day, but into who you are.
I know you’ve probably tried to “get healthy” a million times in the past, but I believe these four techniques will help you shift from trying to doing.
Be aware of your habits and triggers
The first step in changing our unhealthy habits into healthy ones is to be aware of them! The best way to do this is to create a list of the habits we want to change. Maybe you know you drink too much soda. Take notice of when you drink soda. Are there any triggers that cause you to grab a Coke from the fridge? Do you do it at the same time every day?
Once you understand what is leading you to the unwanted habit, you can start using tools to implement a new habit.
Stack your habits
With habit stacking, you’re going to use your current habits to build your new habit. So after you complete one habit, you’ll do the new habit you’re trying to build. For example, after you brush your teeth, you will drink 8 oz. of water. This method is great because you don’t have to remember to do your new habit all the time, you are connecting it to a habit you already have and that you don’t think about anymore!
Set a time & place for your new habit
Another great tool is to create a plan of how and when you’re going to implement a new habit. You use this simple formula “I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION.] For example, I will drink 8 oz of water [behavior] at 2 p.m. [time] while I’m in the car [location] running errands. You can even set up alarms on your phone to help remind you to implement this new behavior!
Create a new lifestyle that motivates you
Creating a new lifestyle sounds intimidating, but I promise that it’s totally do-able! Changing your lifestyle isn’t necessarily easy, but it’s absolutely worth it if you want to become a healthy person!
Lifestyle changes are what bring real changes. If you’ve ever been on a fad diet, you know that if you don’t’ truly change your lifestyle then you’ll never see lasting results. This is true of any healthy habit you want to change!
Surround yourself with like-minded people
Changing habits is difficult enough, but if you’re surrounded by people you don’t want you to change it makes it so much more difficult. You wouldn’t want to hang out with a chain smoker if you were trying to quit smoking, would you? The same is true for any healthy habit you want to change.
You need to surround yourself with people who are either on the same journey as you or who are where you want to be. This is a huge reason that I have a community aspect to my Macros Made Easy Program. We have a Voxer chat and a Facebook group where clients and former clients can get help, advice and support!
If you’re looking for a tribe of busy mamas who are trying to create healthy habits, then join my free Facebook group, Busy Mom, Simple Nutrition. It’s a great place to start surrounding yourself with people who want to see you succeed!
Make positive associations with your new habit
Another way to create a healthy lifestyle is to create positive associations around the new habit you’re cultivating. Last week in my post about ditching negative habits, we talked about the power of our brains and how if we focus on what’s hard or negative about our habits, that’s what our brains will latch on to. What we want to do is latch onto positive associations, so that we’re encouraged to keep doing the new habit.
Say your new habit is to drink half your body weight in water every day. Before you go to fill up your cup or take a drink you would want to do something you enjoy, so that you associate drinking water with something fun.
This association can be literally anything that makes you happy! Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Listening to your favorite song
Watching a funny TikTok
Having a dance party with your kids
Watching your favorite Netflix show
Scrolling Instagram
Set yourself up for success
If you knew you were going to fail, would you put an effort into changing? I wouldn’t! That’s why we must set ourselves up for success! Approach these new habits you’re working on with an attitude of success by changing three things: your environment, your actions and your automation.
Environment
First, you must create an environment that sets you up for success! If you set a goal to eat fewer processed snacks, but your pantry is stocked with Oreos, Little Debbies and candy bars you’re never going to be successful!
Instead, you need to surround yourself with the things you need to accomplish your goals. When I work with nutrition clients one of the first things I have them do is a kitchen cleanout. We identify what foods they should not have in the house, what foods are ok in moderation and what foods they can stock up on.
Once you’ve created an environment that encourages you instead of challenges you, you’ll find that it’s much easier to stick to your new healthy habit!
Action
Mel Robbins has a theory that you have 5 seconds to take action after you have a thought. If you take more than 5 seconds, you won’t do it. Is this true for you? I’ve found it is absolutely true for me and for the women I work with!
If you want to create a healthy habit, then you have to take action and be decisive. You have to do the dang thing! One way I do this is by building on small choices. Today, you may choose to add a veggie to your dinner. Celebrate that! And then tomorrow build on it. Add a veggie to your lunch. Celebrate that and then build on it again until you’re getting your necessary veggie requirements. When you build on little actions they end up creating massive change.
Automation
Automation is just a fancy word for making things easier on yourself. Part of automating your habit is finding out what you excel in and where you need help. If you are a planner and can rock out a meal plan for a month in 10 minutes, then you go girl! Use that to automate your day by knowing what you’re going to have at each meal.
However, if you know that you struggle with meal planning, then invest in a coach to help you! You can literally find a coach for anything! A coach can help you see your problem in a new light and breakthrough any mental or physical blocks in your path. Sometimes it takes someone who is a little further removed from the problem to help you find a solution.
Acknowledge your success
Making changes, no matter how small they seem, are a big deal! If you want to continue to make changes towards your goals, then you have to realize how far you’ve come! I believe that what we celebrate, we replicate. Here are a few ways you can celebrate your achievements!
Track your success
You don’t always see your progress unless you’re tracking it! This is especially true of weight loss goals. We may drop a few pounds, then gain one or two back and we only see the weight gain, not the overall loss. We get too zeroed in on the day-to-day and we can’t clearly see the whole picture. Tracking your goals helps you step back and appreciate just how far you’ve come.
I see this narrow-focused a lot with my Macros Made Easy clients. They see weight loss one week, then a few days of weight gain and they start to get worried - which is totally normal, but not necessarily necessary. I have my clients track their weight in a spreadsheet, and when we look at the bigger picture they see they are making progress towards their goals.
What we measure we can manage. If you want to continue to see improvement use a habit tracker to see where you started and celebrate each step you make towards your goals.
Reward yourself
Part of celebrating our wins includes rewarding ourselves! Especially when you accomplish something that is particularly difficult for you or when you’ve been working towards something that takes a long time.
Most of us have been conditioned to use food as a reward, but I want to challenge you not to use food as a reward. When we use food as a reward we create more negative associations around food than good association. For example, you might say “I’ve been good; therefore, I deserve this ‘bad’ food.” Food is neither good or bad, it’s just food. We can enjoy it whether we’ve accomplished a goal or not.
Instead of using food, here are a few examples of rewards you can use:
Take a selfie to celebrate your progress.
Spend an hour away from your phone or computer.
Take a vacation day from work to do whatever you want!
Clean out your closet and donate all your too-big clothes to charity.
Post your progress on social media so your friends can celebrate with you.
Take a bubble bath.
Drive to a beautiful neighborhood or park to walk instead of taking your usual walking route.
One last tip, use rewards liberally! You don’t have to hit a big goal to reward yourself. You can reward yourself immediately after you complete you new habit to create positive reinforcements for yourself!
Developing new habits takes time and you might want to give it up for the easier way, but you won’t get to where you want to be if you don’t change. If you need help making healthy lifestyle changes, then let’s talk! I can help you discover what habits will be best to get your to your goals and help keep you on track as you make the changes! Schedule a free discovery call with me to get started.
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