Health and Wellness Action Plan

There are a few things that you should take into consideration when you would like to make a healthy lifestyle change. 

First, start with a lifestyle change that you are most interested in making (i.e. healthy eating, walking, losing weight). You must believe you can be successful in making that change.  Start with smaller changes first and then tackle the harder, more difficult changes later.  If we set ourselves up at the onset for failure with the most difficult task, we will more than likely sabotage our chances of positive change.  Additionally, seek advice from your health care professional prior to beginning any physical fitness activity.  They may also provide much needed guidance.

Secondly, find reliable sources of information.  Try talking with people around you who are health conscious, or have made similar changes to those you would like to make.  Find out what they did, how they did it, what challenges they had to overcome, what they learned about their experience and maybe even ask them to hold you accountable while you are going through these new lifestyle changes.  Enlist the help of your spouse or friends to build a support system.  Maybe they will even make the changes with you!

Lastly, create an action plan.  Write out specific goals and a realistic time frame for what you want to change.  Be as specific as you can so you can measure your results.  Either keep a daily log of your progress or a weekly progress chart.  This will help motivate you and keep you accountable for your actions, not to mention the encouragement it will be to see your progress with time.  Once you reach your first small goal, reward yourself.  Get new clothes, take a special trip or do something special or something that you have wanted to do in the past.  Rewarding yourself insures your progress, keeps your enthusiasm and positively changes your actions.  DON’T get discouraged if you have a setback or two.  That’s to be expected.  Start again and learn from your mistakes.  It’s the person who never gives up who wins in the end.  As Donald Trump has said, “Try Again, and if that doesn’t work, Try Again, and if that doesn’t work Try Again.”