Before we get to how to balance your changes to reach your health goal, let’s walk through each step thus far.
We started with commitment as the foundation of your healthy lifestyle changes. We, then, talked about how support and accountability are vital to your changes. The third step walked you through choosing what to change first and how to make it a SMART change.
Then we talked about turning that change into a habit. That brings us to the fifth and final step – how to balance more than one change.
Making your second, third, fourth (etc.) changes may sound easy, especially after you have turned your first into a habit. But, don’t get ahead of yourself. If you rush ahead, you may lose all your progress.
So, let’s work through the balancing act that has to happen for you to be able to reach your health goal.
Balancing Changes to Reach Your Health Goal
I like to think of making changes in life as a game of Jenga. Pulling out a piece and placing it on top is like taking out an old habit and replacing it with a new one. And just like in Jenga, you have to be careful with which habit (or block) you choose to remove.
If you choose the wrong one, you may mess up all the progress you’ve made thus far and have to start all over. I think it’s safe to assume that nobody wants that. So, what do we do to avoid it?
Making The Next Change
After you have gotten your first change down, it’s time to pick a second change to make. This second change should get you one step closer to your health goal.
For example, if you cut down from 14 desserts in a week to 10 desserts for your first change, you could cut down to 7 desserts (one every day) for this next change. Or if you started eating salads for 3 days out of the week for your first change, try for 5 days for your second change.
You could also choose your second change to be completely different from the first.
For me, my first change was to buy seasonal vegetables every time I went to the store. I’ve done that every time I’ve gone to the store for the past few months. So, this next change is to be active once a week for at least an hour.
Since I struggle with being active, I have to go slow on this one. I have to make sure I don’t challenge myself with a change I’m not motivated to do or unable to do right now.
To go from not intentionally being active to being active every day would be tough for me. So, to avoid turning myself off completely to working out, I will start slow and add on from there.
So, be sure to choose a change that gets you one step closer to your goal. Once you’ve got an idea of what needs to change next, turn it into a SMART goal. Remember: make the change specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.
5 Steps to Starting a Healthy Lifestyle Checklist
When making healthy lifestyle changes, you can use this checklist to make sure you’re making SMART changes that fit you.
- Choose a change that gets you one step closer to your goal
- Make sure you’re ready and motivated to make the change
- Make your change specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound
- Focus on turning that change into a habit
- Rinse and repeat until you reach your health goal
That’s it! It’s simple but not easy by any means. Any changes that do not give into immediate pleasures but rather promote long-term healthiness are never easy to keep.
But, with this 5-step approach to making changes, you should be able to make healthy changes to your eating in no time!
I have some exciting news for you on the next page, so let’s wrap this guide up 👇