Healthy Lifestyle Changes That Will Take You Through The Holidays and Long After

Halloween is here and gone and that only means one thing:  Retailers everywhere getting their usual head start on the holidays.  'Deck the Halls' playing  24/7 in your local Target, plastic wreaths swinging off every traffic light and  mass produced Christmas trees bundled up with twine and scrunched together by the dozens outside your grocery store...all while you're still trying to figure out where to store your beach umbrellas!

So, maybe this is the year to get a head start on something even more important...our health!  Instead of waiting till the holidays are around the corner, or chucking it all in until after the New Year, how about getting real about healthy eating and fitness now?

Here, from the professionals at Green Mountain at Fox Run, are a few tips for healthy weight loss that you can start thinking about today - while you still have your wits about you...

• Get real.  Whether we're trying to start eating healthier or become more physically active, the first step is to be clear about our goals...and clear whether they are something we can achieve.

• Get committed.  We're talking about energy and dedication to find healthy behaviors that work for you.  If it doesn't feel right to say you're committed to something, explore why.  Is the goal you've set really right for you?

• Give up 'shoulds.'  A tangle of beliefs and thoughts about what we 'should' do or where we 'should' be with our fitness and health can threaten our ability to find what's right for us.

• Get assertive.  Does everyone around you have opinions about what's best for you?  Exercise your right to make your own choices.  That also means putting yourself first.  If you don't make it a priority to care for yourself, you won't be at your best in caring for others either.

• Reward yourself. Build your self image as a winner by acknowledging and celebrating your small successes with ways that are meaningful to you.  It's all about feeling good and keeping yourself going.

• Remind yourself.  Whether it's remembering to eat lunch, or getting in that two-mile walk, add your new behaviors to your 'to do' list. 

• Seek support.  Support is one of the key predictors of success at lifestyle change or healthy weight loss program.  Buddy up with friends or family to accomplish your goals.

One of the most promising things to remember about making positive changes, is that if you keep practicing your new behaviors, before you know it, you're no longer making 'changes' - it will be just the way you do things!

For more information, read Making Healthy Lifestyle Changes that Last, or more check out Changing for Good, one of the premier books on how to make changes that last.

Tags: healthy eating, changing behavior, self confidence.

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