10 steps to get Healthy in 2024
We’ve all done it. “It’s a new year so I am creating a new me.” Annnd let’s be honest, we’ve all failed ourselves within the first few weeks and gave up. So how do we REALLY get healthy in the year 2024?
Getting healthy, truly healthy, is not an easy task. I have been there myself. I gained 50lbs with both of my boys and wondered how in the world would I drop that kind of weight. I wanted to lose the weight as fast as possible and keep it off. I pulled all my knowledge of health and fitness and guess what, I CRACKED THE CODE!
In this blog post, I’m sharing the 10 secrets I learned that allowed me to lose weight and get back my health. I will be covering:
The Right Mindset
Schedule Schedule Schedule
Sleep Yourself to Health
Set Yourself Up for Success In The Kitchen
Move Your Body
Blood Work
Using the Earth to Heal
Surround Yourself With The Right People
When to Say Yes and When to Say No
Take Care of You
So if you are tired of being tired and if you are ready to get your life back, you are in the right place! Your old self is about to be gone for good; welcome to the new you!
How I Got My Health Back
I was 31 when I had my second baby boy. I gained 50lbs with the first one so natural the weight would just fall off in 2 weeks like before right? Haha yeah I was definetly dreaming. What they forget to tell you is that it takes longer for your body to bounce back with each kid, chasing that other kid with a newborn is a game changer!
I thought the weight would come off with breastfeeding..it didn’t. At least not how much weight I wanted. I thought it would come off with moving..it didn’t. And how much could I really move more than chasing after a toddler? I started to get depressed. Self defeating thoughts came in like, “This is your life now. From pro athlete to out of shape mom. My healthy life is over.” But then I remembered who I really was and said NO..THIS IS NOT MY STORY. Which leads me into my first point:
1) POSITIVE MINDSET
I know it sounds cleshea but your mindset is EVERYTHING. If you don’t believe you can do it you never will. Positivity breeds positive outcomes. That whole “life is what you make it” is so true. So how do we change our mindset if we are naturally a negative Nancy?
Positive Mindset Books. Books are great resources on retraining your brain. Just like you would train a muscle to be stronger, you can train your brain to think differently. I have linked a few of my favorite books to change the way you think and start developing a reality that you will actually enjoy.
-The Power of Positive Thinking
Daily Affirmations. “You are smart, you are kind, you are important.” Statements like that spoken outload are very powerful. There have been so many studies linking what you speak is what you believe. So get yourself a book of daily affirmations or an app and speak them outload every day. I have friends that even write them on their mirror so they are reminded of their daily affirmation throughout the day.
Gratitude Journal. Much like speaking things to life, it has been proven that you brain has a 90% retention rate if you write something down. That is HUGE! So write the things you are thankful for, positive things about yourself, your dreams, your goals. If you write these things down they are much more likely to come true.
2) Schedule Schedule Schedule
I can not begin to express how important sticking to a schedule is for your health. Habits are so important. Science has actually proven that people who schedule their day to day lives are happier people. You are much more likely to accomplish your goals if you have them scheduled into your day. So instead of saying “I am going to start working out tomorrow” put it in your schedule that you will be working out at 7am or 5pm or whatever tangible times works for your lifestyle. Then create the habit. “I workout every Mon Wed Fri at 7am for 30min” Use your phone calendar or write it down in a daily planner. I went as far as scheduling drinking 20oz of water every 3 hours even just to make one of the habits I wanted back happen.
3) Sleep Yourself to Health
If you don’t sleep you will accomplish nothing, you know it and I know it. Sleep is probably the most important part of this process. If you start your day off tired you will hit the snooze button, your schedule will be thrown off, and the day will pass in a heavy blink of a tired eye. So how do we fix our sleep?
Get a Sound Machine. This will help drown out the noise and help your brain shut off. Here is a link to the sound machine I use: Hatch Sound Machine
Go to bed at a decent hour. Do not stay up until Midnight thinking you will wake up at a decent hour and feel good and tackle the day. Make sure you give yourself time to winddown and actually fall asleep. If your goal is to be asleep by 10pm, make sure you are laying down settling into your bed no later than 9:30pm.
Make sure you have quality sleeping tools. This means a mattress and a pillow that makes your body feel good, no one wants to wake up aching with a stiff neck and back. Also nice cozy sheets and a heavy comforter help too!
4) Set Yourself up for Success In The Kitchen
We’ve all been there. Standing in the pantry, those Oreos staring right back at you making your mouth water. Believe me, if you want this to work DO NOT allow these types of foods to be in your houses. We all think we will go for the fruit and vegtables’s we just bought in our new me grocery haul, but you will always grab the junk food in your first few months while you a breaking the processed food and sugar addictions. Here are my best tips for the kitchen:
Don’t keep any processed foods handy. Let them not even be a choice in your house
Make healthy food easily assessable. Bananas and apples in a bowl on the counter. Keep nuts in a candy dish. Frozen fruits to throw into a quicks smoothie. Greek yogurt with 0 sugars in your refrigerator. We all have been trained for food to be fast and easy, so make your fast easy choices healthy ones.
Meal prep. I am not saying you need to make 10 meals of rice and chicken, but when you make your healthy meals make double the portions so you can eat off of your efforts more than once and so you have healthy options when you don’t have time to cook. Premake a large salad in the fridge to eat off of for a few days as well, it makes a world of difference when you only need to add a couple toppings!
DRINK ALL THE WATER. Keep a few large water bottles on hand and make sure you are drinking as close to a gallon of water a day as possible. Our bodies are made of 90% water so make sure you are replenishing this throughout the day for internal and external health benefits.
5) Move Your Body
People were meant to move. We weren’t designed to sit at a desk all day or on our couch watching Netflix. As an athlete I always thought there was a specific way we needed to move for our health. If you did at least this many HIIT workouts you would be your healthiest self. But what I have learned is that the healthiest way to move is to just move. Make sure you are spending at least 30min a day doing some sort of active exercise. You could walk, run, swim, bike, do a fitness class…JUST MOVE. And try to incorporate moving into your lifestyle. Don’t sit on the couch, sit on the floor like when you were a kid. Stretch and do some abs while you are down there. Sit on a yoga ball at your desk or get up every 20mins and do a few jumping jacks and squats. I have a few friends you have the desk treadmills and they love them!
6) Get Blood Work
Everyone wants to sell you on the next best multi vitamin or supplement, but is that what your body needs? I made the mistake of taking a multi vitamin that was high in iron and it made me sick. Turns out my body naturally produces a lot of iron and I was basically poisoning myself with the vitamin.
Go to your healthcare provider and get a lab workup that tells you exactly what you are deficient in. Maybe you are tired and depressed because you don’t have enough vitamin D or B12 in your system and you need to supplement it. All the working out and sleeping won’t make you feel better because you have a deficiency. Knowing what your body actually needs is a great way to get healthy.
7) Using the Earth to Heal
Have you ever had a bad day and took a walk outside and felt better? There is something to connecting with mother nature that makes us feel happier and in return makes us healthier. Being outside has been proven to decrease cortisol levels, reduce release muscle tension, and lower our heart rate and blood pressure.
So in your new healthier lifestyle, schedule time to be outside.
8) Surround Yourself With The Right People
It is human nature to care what everyone around us thinks. What people do and say around you can change how you view yourself and the entire world around you. So it does you no good to change your entire lifestyle to make your life healthier if you are then going out and spending time with negative unhealthy people. These people will stop your journey to a healthier happier you right in its tracks.
So start thinking about your relationships. Which ones should you let go of and which ones should you nurture? Try spending time with the people who will go on this journey with you and help you be better. As hard as it may be to admit the reason you are not your heathiest self could be who you are spending your time with.
9) When To Say YES and When To Say NO
Much like how scheduling can help you, scheduling too much can hurt you too. If you give yourself an overwhelming amount of tasks that are nearly impossible to handle in a day you are setting yourself up for stress and failure. Raised stress means raised cortisol levels which in return gives us a whole list of health issues such as inflammation, high blood pressure, anxiety…this list goes on forever.
Make sure you are only scheduling what you can handle in a day and the things that are going to bring you health and joy. It is ok to tell people no sometimes and to put your health first. Believe me I am taking a note from my own advice hear. I know it seems like common sense, but for some of us it is a hard thing to do. But it is a necessity on our journey to becoming as healthy as we can be.
10) Take Care Of YOU
The older we get the more responsibilities we have. We are busy taking care of everything and everyone around us…especially if you have tiny humans. We forget to carve out time for ourselves. Here are some ideas on what you can do to take care of yourself and bring in that little bit of extra health and joy to your life:
Take a Epsom Salt bath. This is so good for your mental and your physical health. To make it even more healthy and luxurious try adding a few drops of your favorite essential oils.
Try to get a massage once a month. Messages are great for your health. They release endorphins, they lower cortisol in the body, and help flush your lymphatic system. If you can not afford to get a regular message try buying one of these massage guns to help facilitate the same health benefits for much less cost.
Have a good healthy skin care routine. Use nourishing oils such as coconut oil and jobada oil on your skin to give it that healthy glow.
Take up a healthy habit just for yourself. Mom guilt is a real thing. I realized for me to actually be happy and healthy I needed some time to myself doing something I loved doing. Try getting a baby sister a few times a week (or lean on your parents or spouse) to be able to get away from the world and do the things that makes you happy. Play on a team sport, horseback ride, go to the gym, golf…there are so many options. But spend that time away from stress top focus on a healthy you.
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