How to Start a Healthy Lifestyle from Scratch
Use SMART goals to plan and start your meal planning with ease!
In this printable guide, you will receive:
Beginners guide checklist,
Monthly planning worksheets,
Weekly planning worksheets,
and more!
These steps are all covered in this comprehensive checklist!
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Motivation to start anew can come from just about everywhere. I remember cuddling in on a cold spring morning, getting ready for a long-deserved Netflix binge when I found a fascinating documentary.
I love watching documentaries and other edutainment. Especially when it’s done well. This one was on juicing diets.
By the end, I was absolutely sold! I was heading down to the store to pick up a juicer and toss out everything from my pantry. I was going to swear allegiance to the juicing lifestyle and go on the detox to end all detoxes!
That documentary spoke to me. It gave me a level of motivation to completely change my life. You can’t always anticipate when that will happen, but when it does, you just know it’s time for a change.
Now, I’m not advocating completely changing your life overnight. You definitely do not have to go on a juice cleanse to uncover a healthier you! The best changes are implemented slowly, over time.
Adding healthy habits to our daily lives can include shedding a few pounds, but your options don’t stop there. These simple habits can improve your quality of life, mental health, and energy levels. In some instances, healthy living can even improve some of the symptoms of certain medical conditions.
Discover the key to embracing a healthier lifestyle effortlessly through the power of meal planning. Take a decisive step towards a better you by diving into our comprehensive and captivating resource: The Beginners Guide to Simple and Efficient Meal Planning checklist. This invaluable workbook, available for free, equips you with all the essential tools to embark on your journey. Don’t miss out on this opportunity for positive change. Download your copy now and unlock the path to a healthier, more fulfilling life.
What’s Healthy Living, and Why Does it Matter?
Healthcare spending in the USA was $3.8 trillion in 2019. This is only expected to climb in the coming years. Unfortunately, much of this spending is reactionary rather than preventative. This simply means that patients have to spend trillions of dollars to treat illnesses that could have been easily avoided.
Healthy living can be expensive. The cost of fresh produce is skyrocketing as inflation grows out of control. Often, cost is a much greater factor in staying healthy than motivation will ever be.
A healthy lifestyle can significantly reduce the likelihood of developing many diseases. The risk factors for developing heart disease can be improved by implementing simple healthy changes. The same can be said for many other disorders, including kidney disorders, memory loss, and general life expectancy.
With 27.5 million uninsured Americans, preventative care is an important talking point to explore. Quality of life can often be significantly improved with certain lifestyle changes, and that can be a huge help.
The most common hurdle to living a healthier lifestyle is time, money, and access to healthy choices. Today I want to discuss how to make small changes in your life, to work towards a healthier you.
How to Start Living a Healthy Lifestyle
A healthy lifestyle might look a bit different to different people. These variations reflect where you started and what your goals are. The most important opinion to keep in mind is your own.
What does a healthy lifestyle look like to you? How do you gauge being healthy?
Have a clear goal in mind
When planning a healthy lifestyle, you need to get clear on what your takeaways might be. Are you wanting to lose a specific amount of weight or just feel good in your body? Maybe you want to enjoy a certain activity you have been unable to enjoy lately.
This is highly personal, and only you can answer it. It’s important not to get hung up on any number. This can make the process of goal setting daunting and lead to avoidance.
Instead, try something more tangible that you would like to add to your life.
Start with baby steps
Rome wasn’t built in a day, or so the saying goes. This is going to be a long road. Living a healthier lifestyle is just that…. A lifestyle.
This is a lifelong journey, and you are taking the first steps. There is no end date to these changes. They are here to stay. Because of this, it’s important not to jump in headfirst.
Take on only as much change as you are willing to commit to on any given day. If the next step scares you, break it down.
You don’t need to go on a rampage and get rid of every sugar cereal, bag of chips, or package of gummies in the house. This kind of knee-jerk reaction can lead to cravings later.
Instead, try to cut back at your own pace. In place of these snacks, start introducing healthier options. As you find things you enjoy, you can easily swap them for your old-time favorites.
Move at your own pace
No one can tell you how fast you need to move. Each win is for you to celebrate, no matter how small.
If you need to take some time to feel comfortable before moving on, take that time. Don’t let anyone push you or feel bad about your progress. Changes made too quickly are tough to maintain. Instead, take your time and grow into this new lifestyle you are creating.
Add, Don’t Just Take Away
Framing a change this big can be really hard, especially when you feel like you are losing all of the things that used to bring your comfort. Your old routine was familiar and made you feel good. Now there are so many new things you are trying to incorporate into your day it can easily get overwhelming.
When you are starting to change your lifestyle, many of the adjustments seem restrictive. Identifying and removing bad habits as a knee-jerk response to making progress is much easier. It’s much more expensive and time-consuming to add to them.
These mounting restrictions can often feel oppressive. There are so many things that used to bring you comfort that you can no longer turn to. That’s why it is so important to make sure you are adding to your life, not just taking things away.
When your tummy is rumbling, and all you want to do is reach for a cookie, you don’t necessarily have to stop yourself. Instead, ask, what can I add to this? Try crumbling it over some Greek Yogurt for a bit of a protein kick. Couple it with some fruit for fiber. Try adding, don’t just take away!
Work your way up to milestones
It’s time to look at change as a marathon. Not a sprint. You don’t have to reach your destination in a day.
Rather than subscribing to the unrealistic expectation that you can change your entire life in a day, set goals and implement these changes over time. This will help you make and sustain the changes you implement.
Setting SMART goals, reviewing your progress, and adjusting your path as needed will make big changes much more attainable and enjoyable. It will reduce the amount of stress and overwhelm you experience trying to hang on to your progress and make it much more likely to get to where you want to be.
Acknowledge your progress
Small changes add up to considerable progress. It’s easy to overlook minor adjustments to your lifestyle, but these are the baby steps that will get you to where you want to be.
When you are first starting out on your path to a healthier lifestyle, it’s important to celebrate each tiny win. This positive reinforcement will help to build up the motivation to continue to make progress.
You’re creating a cycle in your brain. When you train your brain that this progress is good, feels good, and is rewarding, your brain will continue to strive for that progress. This feeling alone will boost motivation.
Reward yourself
One major component that most people forget about is rewarding yourself for the goals you reach. It’s easy to say you are acknowledging your progress, but how?
Assign a reasonable reward for each goal you set. These should be broken down into weekly, monthly, and yearly, at the least. Each time you set a goal, assign how you will pay yourself for achieving it and making this progress. These don’t have to be extravagant, but they do have to be meaningful.
This simple task of rewarding yourself for your progress will jump-start that positive reinforcement cycle and flood you with motivation.
Keep pushing forward
Setbacks are inevitable. The more progress you make, the more opportunity there will be to slip backward. This is not always you’re fault. Sometimes life just gets in the way.
Money, illness, and family emergencies are just some of the ways life can throw you a curveball. What is important is that you continue to set the goals needed to make progress and keep pushing forward.
Don’t let these setbacks discourage you from living the lifestyle you want. Instead, stay focused and determined, pick up where you left off, and keep trudging along to the finish line!
25 Tips for Healthy Living
Set goals
Have a plan
Make a commitment to healthy living
Hold yourself accountable
Drink water
Establish a regular wake-up time
Go to bed at the same time every night
Incorporate physical activity into your day
Identify unhealthy habits
Avoid triggers
Avoid fad diets
Avoid over-indulging
Eat the rainbow
Read the labels
Try new foods
Set goals
Audit your progress
Protect your energy
Try deep breathing exercises
Avoid negative influences
Find a mindfulness activity
Start a gratitude journal
Track your progress
Check-in with your goals
Reward yourself for your accomplishments
Changing your entire lifestyle can be an exciting but scary process. It’s easy to dream of this beautiful, healthy, aesthetic life but be paralyzed to make any progress toward it. Creating a plan, setting goals, and taking baby steps toward your future is the best, most achievable way to get there.
Are you looking to adopt a healthier lifestyle but find it challenging to stay on track with your eating habits? Meal planning is a practical and effective way to take control of your health and set yourself up for success. Whether you’re a beginner or have some experience, our comprehensive Beginners Guide to Simple and Efficient Meal Planning checklist can help you get started on the right foot.
This free workbook is designed to provide you with all the necessary tools and information to simplify your meal-planning process. From creating a shopping list to preparing meals, our step-by-step guide is easy to follow and will help you save time and money. Plus, you’ll learn tips and tricks on how to make healthy meals that are both delicious and satisfying.
So why wait? Take the first step towards a healthier you by downloading your copy of our Beginners Guide to Simple and Efficient Meal Planning checklist today. It’s completely free and will set you on the path to a healthier lifestyle in no time.
I would like to be transparent so that there are no misunderstandings. As an affiliate, I may earn a small commission from any products linked in this post. This is not a sponsored post, and I was not asked to recommend these products. These are products that I genuinely love and wanted to share with my audience.