Do It Every Day

By , SparkPeople Blogger
Think of a few things that you do every day of your life.

            Getting out of bed

            Having breakfast

            Brushing your teeth

Fairly simple stuff, right?  Things that you do daily become a habit, and habits are typically hard to break once we really get set on what we are doing, agreed?

This month I have been discussing my personal success factors in an effort to share with you what worked for me. 

#1: Know WHAT/HOW much we eat(track it)

#2  Shut up and sweat. 

To achieve success with steps 1 and 2, I recommended using the SparkPeople trackers so you know exactly where you stand with your nutrition as well as your fitness.

The third and final success factor that works for me says this: Do it every single day.

That's it.  Do success factors 1&2 every single day.

Here's the deal: When you were gaining the extra weight, didn't you do that every single day? 

Weren't you overeating?

Maybe you were binging?

Or maybe you were eating your emotions away.

If you are honest with yourself, I bet you will agree to some or all of these, I know I did most of them!

Doesn't it make sense then that you need to do exactly the opposite of these habits, every single day, in order to break the bad habits for good ones? I very strongly believe that if you want that extra fat gone, you have to work at it every single day.

What is the work?  It goes back to success factor #1: know WHAT/HOW much you eat (track it).  This is the ONLY way for you to know if you are overeating or not.  Use the SparkPeople nutrition tracker every single day.  Use the SparkPeople reports to view your nutrition over a period of time.  The only way to know is to do it, right?

The other part is your fitness. It's time to shut up and sweat. Again you have to take the opposite path that helped you gain this weight.  It's time to change, time to move, time to take your life back.

Yes, you are going to get sweaty.  Know what else? You will probably get sore, that's normal as well.  This is one reason you need to start out slowly and build your minutes gradually.  You will possibly find muscles you didn't know you had, muscles that haven't been worked in a very long time.  When I started, I was sore for weeks, but I didn't let it stop me. My life meant more than a few sore muscles.  I believe your life means more as well!

I can already hear the struggle going on inside your head. I hear thoughts like, "I don't have 10 minutes a day" or "How can I add another thing to my daily schedule." I know it can be overwhelming to think about adding something else to the day. This is where you must change your train of thought.  You must change that thought to "this is something that I must do." Remember, this journey is about change, inside and out.  Part of those changes must be your thought process!  If you are like most people, YOU have no time for YOU on your calendar.  I want to encourage you to add yourself to your list of important things. Put yourself on the calendar for some "me" time. That time should include your fitness. Maybe it's as simple as a walk or quick trip to the garage to get on the treadmill. 

I have a few suggestions that might help you find the time YOU need to take care of YOU.
  1. Each night, write out your schedule for the next day.  This helps you to see where you have time to sneak in a 10 minute workout.   Try to plan a full week ahead if possible, so you know when and where to ask for help.
  2. Create a menu for the whole week based on what will work for your schedule.  This may be a good way of finding some lost time.
  3. Get your family involved with daily chores.
  4. Ask your family help with meal prep
  5. Get out of bed 30 minutes earlier
  6. Take a 15-minute break during work and go for a walk.  (Call it a smoke break!)
This month I showed you that SOMEDAY has arrived, FINALLY!  Then I talked about the need to WAKE UP and start living.  Then I gave you my personal success factors that have given me my life back.
  1. Know WHAT/HOW much you eat (track it)
  2. Shut up and sweat (fitness)
  3. Do it every single day
My wish is that as you walk through your own journey, you stay focused and use all the SparkPeople tools available to you.  Then share your success factors with others.

So, are you doing #1  daily? Will you? What works for you? If you joined SparkPeople in early January, what keeps you coming back?