Total Wellness Transformation: Hard Habits To Break

Welcome to Total Wellness Transformation: Diary Of A 50lb Weight Loss.

I'm seeing progress, slowly but surely. "Marathon, not a sprint" gets repeated in my head daily. I'm keeping focused and on track and the encouragement and comments here help me - a lot.

Like most people, I had developed habits over a period of time that were not doing me any good. But now, day by day, I am breaking those habits and replacing them with healthier ones. It's not easy, but I'm doing it for me - and I'm worth it.

Since this is about total wellness and improving overall quality of life, I'm working on forming better habits in all areas, such as:

Sleep:
I need to make sure I get enough sleep to give my body time to rest and repair, especially since it's getting back into the groove of working out. It helps me avoid aggravating old injuries or causing new ones. Plus, it makes me feel better to be able to wake up, tackle my workout and start my day without that dragging feeling. How did I ever get by on 5 hours of sleep (or sometimes less)?!?

Food/Fuel:
I've gotten into the habit of making sure I'm feeding and fueling my body on a regular basis. Shakeology for breakfast, some high protein snacks mid morning, a salad or Shakeology for lunch, another high protein snack and then a salad and lean protein for dinner. By giving my body fuel every few hours, it's changing my metabolism and kicking things into a different gear. Because I don't get hungry, I don't make poor food choices.

No Soda:
A few months ago, I decided that one of the first things I would do on this journey would be to give up soda - cold turkey. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but looking back, I probably consumed the equivalent of a 2 liter bottle of Diet Coke a day. I wanted to see what would happen if I quit. It wasn't easy avoiding temptation, but I did it. Haven't had it in months and rarely miss it. I recently went to a restaurant that my friend owns and my server automatically brought over a pint glass of Diet Coke. I had to tell him I was "off the stuff" and asked for a big ol' glass of water instead. The stunned look on his face gave me a little satisfaction. Sue me.

Hydrate!:
Having replaced diet soda with water has been amazing. My skin looks and feels better, I sleep better, I don't get cravings and it's just plain good for me. I drink plenty of water throughout the day and I like mine cold...and not just because it burns more calories. DRINK PLENTY OF WATER!

Supplements:
It's been awhile since I took any sort of multivitamin, but I've been using ActiVit Metabolism Formula, plus Joint Support and I can already feel a difference. I had to make it part of my morning ritual and take them with Shakeology and again on one of my afternoon water breaks. Between Shakeology and ActiVit, I know I'm giving my body nutrients, minerals and good stuff it's been craving and needing...and it's thanking me a little bit at a time.

Be Proactive:
To avoid the temptation of making an unhealthy food choice that may satisfy me in the moment, but that will ultimately leave me undernourished and unsatisfied, I make sure I've got healthy food in my fridge. It's always been easy to justify a bad choice by saying, "Oh, I don't have any food at home, I'll just drive through somewhere."

So I make sure I've got lean pork, beef and grilled chicken breasts on hand than can be prepared quickly and easily. Slice 'em up and throw them into a bag of salad. I will often cook on Sunday to have enough for dinner for the week. It helps keep me consistent and I'm not as susceptible to temptation. And I'm proud whenever I make better choices. It's the small victories that add up.

I look forward to forming even more healthy habits as this journey continues, but that's a taste of what's working for me now. Speaking of which...I'm down almost 5lbs. this week - that doesn't suck one bit! In fact I just celebrated with a frosty chocolate Shakelolgy to keep me on track while I go tackle the rest of the day! Thanks, Carl and Beachbody - I couldn't do it without you!

Until next time,

Hank