After a holiday season full of over indulgences (we got a lot of Ferrero Rocher and my husband insisted on opening every box!) I wanted to take advantage of the new year and get back on track with my health. My husband and I decided to do a “Clean January” – no meat, refined sugar, or junk food. He wanted to keep it up strictly for 1 month – a doable timeframe.
We got to the end of the month and were feeling great. We realized that we wanted to keep up some form of commitment to health but that doing the same thing was going to lead to lowered motivation, eventual cheating, and then (as with most people) dropping the resolution. So we decided to pick a new resolution for February. We kicked off “Fitness February” with a commitment to exercising every day, and keeping to our January resolutions as much as we could. I realised that a daily, 100%, no-excuses commitment to my resolutions relied on being able to do a minimum every day that was so manageable and easy that I couldn’t say no, and leaving room for doing more than that minimum if time, energy and motivation permitted. So, my commitment to myself for Fitness February was to do the 7-Minute Scientific Workout every day, and any additional exercise was a bonus. There was no excuse for me not to do only 7 minutes of exercise, even if I was tired, or busy, I could push myself for 7 minutes. Most days I added additional exercise, whether 30 minutes on the elliptical, 30-60 minute stroller walks, or 2-3 more reps of the 7-Minute Scientific Workout.
Now we are on month three of the year, and are really getting into this monthly resolution. Welcome to “Meditation March”. Again, we wanted to keep it simple with our daily commitment. 5-minutes of Mindfulness-based Meditation every day. Like with the 7-minute exercise, there is no good excuse for not taking 5 minutes out of our day to do this meditation. We picked a time we could keep consistent every day – as soon as we put our toddler to bed, all electronics go off and we set a timer for 5 minutes. Some days, I’ll just do the 5 minutes, some days 10 minutes, and some days 20 minutes. So far, we’ve also both kept up with our workout routine from Fitness February and are doing a moderate version of our diet from “Clean January”.
The moral of this story is to not bite off more than you can chew. Set realistic goals that you can achieve without too much sweat, and then work your way up from there. Stick to the 100% rule and save yourself the stress of making excuses and negotiating with yourself.
Each new month brings a new and exciting way to commit to our health. I can’t wait to see what next month brings!
Naturopathic Doctor
