How to start living a healthy lifestyle using the 7 day healthy lifestyle goal setting plan.
Creating a healthy lifestyle is one of the most beneficial things you can do for yourself if you want to lose weight, improve your health, have more energy, and feel better than you ever have.
But the very process of transitioning from an unhealthy lifestyle to a healthy lifestyle can be overwhelming. You may have so many areas that need improvement that you’re not sure where to start.
Should you focus on breaking your bad habits? Giving up your favorite foods? Gradually forming some better habits to balance out the bad habits?
Do you struggle with a lack of self-discipline? Are you stuck in an endless loop of false starts and feeling like a failure because of them?
If you’ve ever felt confused and frustrated about creating a healthy lifestyle, this guide is going to help you clear it up in the next 7 days.
We’re going to walk you through a simple 7-day plan that will get you moving in the right direction.
Why 7 days?
Because by taking small, daily steps toward a larger goal, you make progress without feeling overwhelmed.
You won’t be able to transform your entire life in 7 days, but with these initial steps you will create a clear plan of action and begin taking modest steps toward your goal each day. Then it’s a simple matter of repeating the same easy steps day after day, so you gradually and consistently transform the areas of your life that need the most improvement.
The best part about this 7-day plan is that YOU will be making your own decisions. I am not going to tell you that you MUST do certain things to improve your lifestyle.
You are a unique individual and you’ve got your own goals in mind. Maybe you just want to lose a few pounds; maybe you have a significant amount of weight to lose; maybe you want to improve your health in general; maybe you want to improve specific conditions like Type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure and reduce your dependence on medication; or maybe you simply want to have more energy and feel better.
This plan will show you how to clarify your goals and create clear, manageable steps to begin achieving them.
Let’s get started.
Day 1: Identify Your Goals
Needless to say, in order to achieve your goals, you’ll need to know what they are. Clearly, your main goal is to create a healthy lifestyle. But under that broad category, you probably have some smaller desires that you want to realize. What are they? Why do you want to create a healthy lifestyle? What will it do for you?
Make a list of the benefits a healthy lifestyle will give you.
Examples:
• Have more energy.
• More strength and flexibility.
• Increased endurance and stamina.
• Greater enjoyment of life.
• Weight loss.
• Feel proud of your body.
• Better health.
Once you have your list, rate each item in importance on a scale of 1-10. One means it’s slightly important to you, 10 means it’s extremely important to you.
Now that you’ve got a good idea about which goals matter most to you, it’s a good idea to draw a clearer picture about WHY they matter to you.
For each of the benefits you rated as 5 or higher, spend a few minutes jotting down your thoughts on why you want to achieve those goals. Why are they important to you? If you achieved them, how would they make you feel? Why would that be a good thing? How would your life improve as a result?
Here’s an example:
“I want to have more energy because for the past several years I’ve felt like I’ve been running on low batteries. It’s all I can do to get through the day sometimes. I don’t have energy to play with my kids, and that makes me feel like a bad parent. Sometimes my housework suffers, my work suffers, and my relationships suffer, all because I’m so tired. It’s VERY important to me to feel good again! I want to wake up feeling energetic, and then move through the day having plenty of energy to accomplish everything I need to do. I’d feel really good and I would be more effective in my life.”
Don’t worry about the wording of your explanations – just get the ideas down so you know why each goal is important to you.
Day 2: Identify Habits That You Want to Break
An unhealthy lifestyle is comprised of multiple “bad habits” that will need to be transformed into positive habits as you transition to a healthy lifestyle. Today’s work involves identifying the habits that sabotage your healthy lifestyle goals.
Pay attention to 4 key areas:
• Food
How are your eating habits in general? Do you eat a lot of fried food, processed food, pre-packaged foods, or foods that are high in sodium or sugar? Do you consume much larger portions than your body needs? Are you an emotional eater? Do you eat when you feel depressed, anxious, or stressed?
Make a detailed list of any eating habits that need to be changed as you create your new healthy lifestyle.
• Beverages
Do you drink too much coffee? Are high-fat, high-sugar lattes your weakness? How about other sweetened beverages like soda, iced tea, or energy drinks? Do you drink too much alcohol?
Think about the liquids you consume on a regular basis, and make a list of those that don’t fit with your new healthy lifestyle.
• Fitness
Do you tend to avoid physical activity as much as possible? Do you always take the elevator instead of the stairs? Do you circle parking lots endlessly until you find a spot closest to the door?
Make a note of all unproductive fitness habits that you would like to change.
• General Lifestyle
What about the rest of your daily activities? Do you have other bad habits that need to be changed? Do you munch mindlessly while watching television in the evenings? Do you get very little sleep so you feel stressed and fatigued much of the time? Are you so busy caring for everyone else that you neglect to take care of yourself? Do you smoke? Do you need some help with time management?
Make a detailed list of general lifestyle habits that might interfere with your ability to create a healthy lifestyle.
Day 3: Identify Habits You Want to Form
A healthy lifestyle is comprised of multiple “good habits” that are performed each day, and these positive actions will replace the bad habits you identified yesterday.
Consider the same 4 key areas:
• Food
Do you need to incorporate more fresh vegetables and fruit into your diet? Do you want to reduce your portion sizes? Do you need to eat smaller meals more frequently throughout the day so you aren’t too hungry by dinner time?
Write down the positive eating habits that you would like to develop. If you need some ideas, simply look at your list of “bad habits” from yesterday.
• Beverages
Do the same thing with your beverage habits. Do you need to start drinking more water each day? Would you like to switch from coffee to green tea? Will you replace sweetened beverages with unsweetened varieties?
• Fitness
Would you like to become more active? Can you commit to 20-30 minutes of brisk physical activity each day? Do you want to start squeezing in a few extra minutes of movement by parking farther away from your destination, or doing a few push-ups and sit-ups while you watch television?
Make a list of the fitness habits you would like to form.
• General Lifestyle
Would you like to learn how to manage stress in healthy ways so you don’t comfort eat? Are you willing to chew sugarless gum and drink water in the evenings instead of munching? Do you want to stop eating while driving or browsing the internet? Do you want to quit smoking so you’ll have an easier time exercising?
Write down the positive general lifestyle habits you would like to form.
Important note: Keep in mind that you don’t have to put all of these things into action immediately. Tomorrow you’ll create a modest plan of action that will incorporate some of them, and you can add others gradually.
Day 4: Create Some Modest Action Steps
In the past few days you’ve put together some clear ideas of the goals you want to achieve long-term, bad habits you want to break, and good habits you want to form. Now it’s time to create some modest action steps that you can soon begin to take each day. The key word here is “modest”!
This will depend on the size of your goals, and the number of habits you want to change. If you have only a few small habits you want to improve, then you can probably tackle them all at once without any problems. However, if you need to overhaul virtually your entire daily routine, you’ll want to take it much slower. If you try to take on too much, too fast you’ll be more likely to give up and slide right back into destructive habits.
What is a “Modest” Action Step?
For our purposes, a modest action step is an activity you can perform quickly and easily that doesn’t require a lot of planning and preparation. For example, drinking green tea instead of coffee would be a modest action step. The only planning and preparation necessary is buying the green tea, keeping it nearby, and boiling some water when you’re ready to have a cup. Small action steps like these can be created for all of the lifestyle categories you want to change. Take a look back through your list of positive habits from yesterday, and make a list of modest action steps for each of them.
Here are some good general examples to use as a starting point:
Food
• Include a minimum of one serving of vegetables with lunch and dinner each day.
• Include one serving of fruit with breakfast and a snack each day.
• Start using a smaller plate for meals to reduce portion sizes.
• Replace fried food with grilled foods.
• Munch on raw vegetables with low-fat dip for snacks.
• Switch to whole grain bread, rice, cereal, pasta, and crackers.
• Use olive oil instead of butter when cooking.
• Eat only when physically hungry.
• Stop eating a minimum of 3 hours before bed.
• Replace ice cream with low-fat flavored yogurt.
Beverages
• Replace coffee with green tea.
• Replace sugar with stevia or agave in tea.
• Drink 8 glasses of water each day.
• Reduce alcohol consumption to one 4-ounce glass of red wine a day.
• Drink unsweetened iced tea instead of soda.
• Drink coffee and tea black, without cream.
• Omit sugary energy drinks.
• Add a wedge of lemon or lime to water to add flavor.
• Replace fruit juice with water, or at least dilute juice with water before drinking.
• Get a juicer and make your own healthy fruit and vegetable juices.
Fitness
• Take a 15-minute walk before work each morning.
• March in place during commercials while watching TV.
• Use a set of dumbbells to tone upper body at the same time.
• Start parking at the far end of parking lots.
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator whenever possible.
• Sign up for a fun dance class.
• Join or form a local walking club.
• Play tag, basketball, or other sports with your kids a few times a week.
General Lifestyle
• Eat meals at the dining room table or kitchen table only.
• Take up a creative hobby to release stress instead of trying to soothe it with food.
• Buy a grill so you can grill your own healthy, delicious meals.
• Clean out your kitchen cupboards and get rid of fattening snacks.
• Make it a priority to get 8 hours of sleep each night.
• Spend less time with toxic people.
• Practice deep breathing when you feel stressed.
• Work with a therapist to heal and release old traumas that drive you to overeat.
• Cut down and then quit smoking – join a program or speak to your doctor for help.
• Encourage yourself as often as possible; you’re doing a good thing by making these lifestyle changes!
Note: If any of these action steps feel overwhelming to you, it’s a clear sign that they are too big – at least at this moment. It might be a good idea to cut down the length of time, the level of intensity, or the frequency with which it’s done.
For example, you might reduce the length of your exercise session, try a less intense form of exercise, or work out every other day instead of daily. If drinking 8 glasses of water a day would be too much for you at first, start by adding just one or two glasses a day. Later you can always increase the amount, time, intensity and/or frequency when you feel ready for it.
Day 5: Create a Daily Plan of Action
Now that you’ve got some clear action steps in mind for each of the categories you want to improve, it will be helpful to create a daily action plan so you’ll know exactly what to do each day.
There are a couple of different ways to create a daily plan of action:
1) A Daily Schedule
If you already follow a set schedule each day, you might find it quite easy to slip in a few of your modest action steps now and then.
For example, let’s say that most days you’ve got appointments at set times, plus various tasks you need to complete during the morning and afternoon.
In between those appointments and tasks, you’ve likely got small windows of time that could be used for healthy lifestyle activities. You can even jot them down in your planner or enter them into your PDA so you don’t forget.
Jot down an example of your daily schedule, and note the approximate times you might be able to slip in some healthy lifestyle actions.
For example, can you squeeze in a 15-minute walk at 6:30 am, or drink a glass of water between each of your morning and afternoon appointments?
You’ll notice that most of the sample action steps we came up with are easy to do and take only a few minutes or less. Your daily schedule likely has numerous spots where these quickie activities can be inserted without having to rearrange your schedule at all.
2) A Daily To-Do List
If you don’t follow a set schedule each day, you may find it easier to create a daily “to do” list that includes your healthy lifestyle action steps.
For example, your activities each day may be mostly the same, including work, kids’ activities, meal preparation, shopping, and perhaps a few chores. Write these down in a list format, and then add a few of the healthy lifestyle actions to the list.
You don’t have to specify a certain time for the completion of each item, but commit to completing them all by the end of the day, just like you do for the typical items on your list.
Whether you like the schedule or to do list approach, keep these tips in mind:
Start slowly.
Whatever you do, don’t try to squeeze in ALL of the action steps at once. This might work if you only have 3 or 4 action steps, but any more than that will quickly make you feel overwhelmed.
Instead, strive to add no more than 3 or 4 steps to each day’s activities. You can keep the same ones for a week or two, or switch it up so each day you’re doing something new.
Start with replacements first.
One of the easiest places to start is with simple replacements. For example, replace coffee with green tea; or use olive oil instead of butter when cooking.
Replacing one food or activity with another is usually pretty quick, easy, and low-stress, so you might want to start with these first.
Then start adding a few modest healthy steps.
Once you feel comfortable with the replacement activities, you can start adding a few more modest healthy lifestyle activities into your daily routine, like taking a brisk walk before work or after dinner, adding healthy foods to your diet, and so on.
Gradually expand to bigger steps more often.
Then gradually keep expanding on your daily efforts, taking bigger action steps, or simply adding more modest steps to those you are already taking.
Be flexible.
Finally, keep in mind that there is no one “right” way to make healthy lifestyle changes. As long as you are taking steps to break bad habits, replace them with healthy habits, and steadily improve your overall lifestyle activities, you are making progress.
Be flexible with your daily action plan, and be gentle with yourself as you learn how to make better decisions. In time you’ll develop a comfortable routine, but until then be willing to try a few different options and see what works best for you.
Day 6: Prepare for Challenges and Obstacles
No matter what kind of goals you set, you will almost always come up against challenges and obstacles as you move toward them. Nothing worthwhile comes easily, right? With that in mind, it’s a good idea to plan ahead for any challenges and obstacles that could arise as you work toward creating a healthy lifestyle.
Start by making two lists of strategies; one for likely challenges, and one for unknown challenges.
Likely Challenges:
Make a list of challenges that you are most likely to face as you go along. Most of these will probably be challenges you’ve faced before while trying to lose weight or improve your health habits.
Examples: Lack of willpower, weakness for sweets, emotional eating, don’t like vegetables, hate exercising, etc.
Now for every item on your list, come up with one or more strategies that will help you overcome the challenge. So, for the lack of willpower example, you might devise a strategy to distract yourself by taking a long walk when you feel your willpower weakening and you are tempted to eat something you shouldn’t.
For every item on the list, ask yourself, “What will I do if this challenge or obstacle comes up? How can I cope with it? How can I overcome it?” Then jot down any ideas that come to you.
Unknown Challenges:
Obviously, it’s not possible to devise specific strategies for unknown challenges, but you can make a list of general strategies that could be used for various challenges.
Then when you come up against an unexpected challenge or obstacle, simply scan down your list and see if any of the strategies might help you work through it more easily.
General strategy examples: Deep breathing, journaling, talking to a friend, taking a walk, taking a bath, taking a nap, consulting a professional, consulting your intuition, drinking a glass of water, researching solutions, starting over, posting reminders where you will see them, reciting affirmations, writing yourself a note of encouragement, etc.
Day 7: Put the Plan Into Action
All that’s left to do now is put your plan into action! Remember, start slowly and make changes gradually. If at any time you feel overwhelmed, you’re trying to do too much at once. Scale back your efforts until your daily activities seem more manageable.
Later you can add in a few more action steps, and a few more after that, and so on.
Evaluate Your Progress Weekly
As you go along, evaluating your progress weekly will be beneficial. You’ll be able to tell at a glance how much progress you’re making, and take steps to improve any areas where you might be struggling.
To evaluate your progress, you simply need to answer a few questions:
• Have you been adding new action steps to your daily routine?
• Have most of the steps been pretty manageable?
• Do you think you could add more, or do you need to slow down?
• Have you come up against any obstacles?
• How did you handle them?
• Could you handle them better next time? If so, how?
• Are you having trouble breaking old, negative habits?
• Are you having trouble forming new, positive habits?
• What makes these things difficult for you?
• What can you do to make them easier?
• Are you self-sabotaging your efforts at all?
• If so, why do you think that is?
• Are you willing to take steps to stop that behavior?
• If so, what kinds of steps do you think would help?
• List any other observations and insights that might help you stay on track, and any ideas for applying them effectively.
These questions are just examples. The important thing is to be sure you analyze your progress from week to week, and take steps to improve it when necessary. It’s important to be honest with yourself. Don’t allow yourself to slip into denial or avoid uncomfortable issues.
If you want to make steady, lasting progress on creating a healthy lifestyle, you need to take responsibility for your actions. I have laid out a simple 7-day plan to help you get started, but the rest is up to you.