Don’t Delay--7 Sustainable Wellness Tips That You Deserve Today!

We’re all interested in living healthier--whether that means eating better, exercising more, losing weight, reducing your medication burden, finding time for family and friends, feeling rested, or just having more energy, the benefits of health cannot be overstated. We all have different goals and have walked different paths, but these 7 tips should meet you where you are in your health and fitness journey and provide key guidance to get you further then before.

1. If nothing changes, nothing changes: 

   1. What I mean by this is that to change your results, you have to change your habits. If nothing changes about your habits--what you eat (and how much), how much you sleep, exercise, and spend time cultivating wellness, and even who you spend time with--nothing will change about your life. I want you to start with a sincere commitment to invest in yourself. It sounds corny, but try saying it out loud “I deserve physical, mental, and social health. I deserve to invest in myself and my future. I deserve to be the best version of myself that I can be.” 
      

      

2. Be SMART in your goals

   1. Lots of people set goals that are doomed from the start. We have a real desire to improve, but passion can only carry the day for so long. Without structure it will wear down and eventually fail. Motivation is not forever. However, motivation now can be used to build good habits and discipline, which can last a lifetime. How do we turn motivation into success? Make your goals SMART:

   2. Specific: not vague, answering who, what, and why

   3. Measurable: have a concrete way to track progress

   4. Achievable: realistic and within your ability

   5. Relevant: short-term goals should challenge you to improve in a way directly related to long-term goals

   6. Time-bound: a defined timeframe to keep you focused

   7. Example of a poor goal: “I’ll start eating healthier soon, lose 100 lbs and fit back into my teenage outfits eventually”

   8. Example of a SMART goal: ”I’ll start writing down what I eat each day. I’ll replace at least one unhealthy food with a healthy one each week until I start losing 1 lb/week, and keep going until I reach my goal weight of X lbs.”
      

3. Don’t go it alone, have an Accountabili-Buddy

   1. Every step in this journey will be easier with a friend or family member cheering you on and holding you accountable. Even better if they’re making some positive changes and you can help them out too! Turn some of the healthy “chores” into a social outing--take pets and/or kids to the park, meet a friend at the gym, grocery shop, and/or cook with family and talk. You’ll build a habit and a bond, start to enjoy these self-care tasks, and make very efficient use of your time to boot!
      

      

4. Diet Is King

   1. The best way to lose weight and/or build health is to eat healthy foods and in moderation. Easier said than done, right? 

   2. Easy to start: MyPlate.gov. This website offers a lot of great ways to eat healthy when you’re not sure where to start. This is a great place for any beginner to start taking control of their health and diet. Answer a few simple questions and they’ll have specific examples of what and how much you should eat in a day.

   3. Harder, but better results: Start with a food diary--just write down everything you eat (and drink) and how much in a week. Remember to be specific and have a kitchen scale ($10 for a perfectly good one); if you record “some soda, fries, and chicken tenders” there’s no way to know how much that was. Instead, “a 12oz can of soda, 8 oz of fries, and 10 oz of chicken tenders (and 3 oz of ranch)” will help you achieve those SMART goals by being measurable. After a week of food diary, make a positive change each day. Maybe it’s drinking one fewer soda (or switching to diet). Maybe it’s replacing half of your fries with a fruit or vegetable or chicken tenders with grilled chicken. The important thing is to make positive changes each week and carry them forward. In a year, you’ll have made 52 positive changes and your relationship with food will be unrecognizable! Don’t rush and get into a hugely restrictive diet--so many people sprint out of the gate with “absolutely no sugar” or “no processed foods ever” and then crash and burn soon after because they didn’t take the time to make it sustainable
      

      

5. Exercise matters too

   1. Cardio, Cardio, Cardio: Find a way to move more. Ideally for 30 minutes, 5 times a week or more, but start with something realistic and make small, sustainable improvements. If you walk for 5-10 minutes 1-3 times a week now, do it 3 times this week, then 4 next week, then 5, then go for 10 minutes every time, and so on. Maybe you start walking up and down hills or even jogging for part of your time, and do a little more each week. This is the most important principle in exercise called progressive overload. Your body will continue to get faster, stronger, more flexible, or have better endurance every time you challenge it a little bit more by exercising for a little bit longer, more often in a week, or in a more intense way. 

   2. Strength training may not burn as many calories or have the same health benefits as cardio, but it’s still very important and helps ensure strong bones and good mobility as we age. It also helps you look good at the beach! Use the same progressive overload principles as before with 3 sets of 8-12 repetitions for each exercise. Each week, aim to do more reps, more weight, an extra set, or an extra exercise. 
      

      

6. Sleep on it!

   1. Sleep is an often overlooked part of our wellbeing, but it’s essential to every part of your health. Sleep is when your body rebuilds itself most after exercise, and it’s when your mind is refreshed for the next day. Dreams help us process difficult emotions, good sleep helps turn short-term memory into long-term memory that is key to the learning process, and sleep even helps clean some of the toxins and waste out of your brain after it’s spend all day working hard.

   2. Get on a consistent schedule; go to bed and wake up at a similar time each day, including weekends.

   3. Keep your bedroom cool (65-68 F), dark, and quiet. Consider aids like dark curtains, masks, earplugs, or sound machines to help.

   4. Avoid nicotine, caffeine, and other stimulants in the afternoon/evening and limit alcohol at night (drink lots of water to help avoid hangovers)

   5. Turn off screens at least an hour before bedtime, or keep the brightness low and use apps or glasses to reduce or block blue light, which sends signals to your brain to keep you awake.

   6. Reserve the bed for sleep and intimacy; don’t eat, study, or watch TV in bed. This helps give you a sense of place and habit to fall asleep when you’re in bed.

   7. Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep

   8. If you cannot fall asleep after 20 minutes of trying, get up and do something relaxing (read a book, use a massager, take a warm bath or shower, listen to calming music and meditate or pray) until you are sleepy and try again
      

7. Don’t be afraid to set boundaries, especially with negative people

   1. Some people will react very poorly to you making a healthy change, as if you’re judging them--especially if y’all used to do unhealthy things together. You might have history with them, but you get to decide what kind of future you want. Tell them kindly yet firmly something along the lines of: “It hurts me when you try to tear me down and make me feel bad about trying to be healthy. I cannot control what you do, but I can control what I do. I am setting a boundary that I will not continue to spend time with you if you say or do hurtful things. I want to remain close with you, so please find a way to support me if you want to remain close to me.” 
      

Hopefully these tips can and will help you live a healthier life and take control of your time. If so, please let us know what worked for you! If not, be sure to leave a comment below on what we can improve at Love Oak!