Challenge Yourself to Create Healthy Habits

Downtime is important to building a lifestyle of healthy habits.

For most of us, summer is now behind us and we are settling into a new routine. Last month’s calendar challenged you to establish healthy habits and routines. This month, that theme continues with challenges in the following areas:

Relax and Unwind

As important as it is to put in the hard work towards your goals, it’s equally important to make sure you give yourself a chance to rest and recover so that you can keep moving forward. These weekly challenges encourage you to take a step back and do just that.

Reflect on the Journey

The scale can be one indicator of progress, but far too often, women especially get too wrapped up in that number. These challenges will help you to look for other measures of progress including gym performance,  building healthy habits, and pictures. Day to day, as you are consistently plugging along on your journey, it may seem like you are not making much progress, but as you take a look back, you will often find that quite a bit has changed. Occasional reflection on the journey will help you see how far you’ve come!

Move with Purpose

Staying active is a critical part of the EM2WL lifestyle. We encourage you to incorporate several strength training sessions each week to see best results. These challenges will give you ideas for how to vary your workouts and keep you moving so that you become a more awesome version of yourself.

Eat to Fuel

At EM2WL, we believe that food is fuel for your healthy lifestyle. These challenges will help you to pay attention to the type of fuel you are putting into your body, encourage you to make healthy substitutions, and try new variations of your family’s favorite foods. Eating for your goals should not be boring!

Eat to fuel and for enjoyment!

Plan Ahead 

Planning ahead is an important way to make sure that you are staying on track with eating according to your goals. Having meals planned ahead and keeping a few staples on hand can make all the difference between sticking to your plan or ordering out for pizza. These challenges will help you to think ahead and ensure that you are prepared for success, even on the nights when things get hectic.

Indulge Mindfully 

Allowing yourself to indulge in moderation can help you to remain consistent in eating according to your goals over the long-term. It is important to allow yourself to be slightly imperfect as you approach your eating plan. If you feel like you can never go out to eat or have some dessert, chances are that you will frequently struggle with consistency and falling on and off the wagon. A slightly imperfect but consistent approach to eating will yield more long-term success than a very strict plan that you struggle to adhere to. Learning to indulge intuitively and mindfully is an important part of any healthy lifestyle. These once-a-week challenges will encourage you to listen to your body as you enjoy some flexibility in your approach to eating.

Mix it Up 

Healthy habits and routines are important parts of a healthy lifestyle journey, but to keep things from feeling too mundane, these weekly challenges encourage you to think about fitness outside of the box, try new experiences, and invite your friends and family to join you in becoming a more awesome version of yourself. Encourage others to join you on your fitness journey! Having those around you who are supportive of your goals helps you just as much as it helps them!

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Photo credit:imagerymajestic, Serge Bertasius Photography of freedigitalphotos.net

Becca is a busy wife and homeschooling mother to five children ages 5 to 13. About three years ago, she embarked on a journey to health and fitness that resulted in the loss of approximately 100 pounds. Today, she is a competitive powerlifter and strongwoman who loves ice cream and deadlifts.  As an ISSA certified personal trainer, she is passionate about helping women to get started on a lifestyle of strength and fitness.