You’re again motivated to improve your healthy lifestyle and become your best self. It’s time for consistent physical activity and exercise, a better diet, and kicking those nasty eating habits away. Sound familiar? Did you say all these same things before only to make it a couple of weeks and be right back to the status quo?

This could be for a number of reasons but many people lose steam after trying to go gangbusters right out the door. Instead, a better approach may be taking baby steps to your new you.

A more gradual route has many benefits like being able to troubleshoot where you struggle. You also learn what healthy choices are easy for you and which ones are more difficult. Listen, eliminating junk food (which is almost impossible) changing eating habits, and focusing on more vegetable and fruit choices, all done at once, can be a lot for anyone. This is true for even those with only the best intentions for good weight loss goals and the desire for a healthy life.

The world wasn’t built in a day and your healthier lifestyle doesn’t need to be either. In fact, trying to make every change you have in mind (or need) all at once is a surefire way to find yourself quitting and overwhelmed very quickly.

Recognizing that you must make lifestyle changes, to put yourself on the right path in improving your health, is the most critical step you can take, period.

Once you have decided to go down this road, it’s now all about finding the tactics and strategies to get you there and boot things that get in the way. I would also state that determining what you can modify the easiest or quickest can also set you running toward a healthy weight, more energy, or even your best body ever. In addition, while setting long-term goals is important, breaking this up into smaller, attainable pieces will ensure you go about this the right way. This process will also allow for quick adjustments if needed.

I am thrilled to see you are considering or have already started your journey to improving your health. Whether you are after more healthy eating, eating less processed food, or just trying to make more healthy choices, these step approaches may make the most sense.

This is no easy task and just deciding to take steps to better your health is a great start. You will likely face some new challenges along the way but changing healthy habits methodically or focusing on 1 or 2 changes at a time, is actually a great way to not only not make these changes more manageable but actually help you succeed.

There is nothing wrong with taking baby steps or gradually implementing changes. By doing so, you are creating sustainable habits, finding areas for improvement, and discovering what you do best.

If you have struggled in the past, trying to do too much at once could be a likely culprit to derailing you off your healthy track. Imagine trying to start working out 3 – 5 days a week, establishing a sound diet or nutrition plan, getting up earlier, going to bed at a more appropriate time, reducing social media scrolling and who knows what else. Talk about giving a shock to your system! By overloading yourself, you are putting too much stress on your mind and body to be perfect and you are setting yourself up for failure. Once you fail at one, the next likely result is the domino effect and everything else may fall apart as well.

The beauty of this more gradual method is as each one becomes a habit or second nature, you now have a clear signal to move on to the next change. These instances would be your milestones or stages where your motivation increases and you feel that empowerment of accomplishing a goal. More importantly, every time you achieve one of your goals, you’re making the next one that much easier because of the confidence you are building. The first challenge crushed, what’s next?!

As time persists, whether it is over several weeks or months, progressively adopting new behaviors will ultimately get you to your goal. Again, there is no harm in taking baby steps if your goal is to establish these changes for a lifestyle change, and not just for a temporary 3-week period, which is how long the average person sticks to New Year’s Resolutions. If this is you, then it is likely time for a change in how you approach your goals. 

I don’t know about you but I want to stick to my plans for success and if doing too much at once is going to decrease my chances of making these changes, then you need to find a better route. I have also found it useful to write down why you want to make the changes in the first place. If you find yourself losing motivation, come back to your list and see why you decided to even make these changes and dedicate yourself to the end goal. Dedication and discipline, are the keys to consistent success, not motivation.

Try this approach to become your best you and take your training to the next Edge.

If you are looking for workouts or other materials to help you achieve your goals at home, check out the programs and free eBooks to consider.