Healthier You Challenge Week 3: Be a Tweaker

Now that we're three weeks in, you can start to assess and modify your plans if necessary. How is it going so far? I've spoken with quite a few of you who are participating *silently* and I know that some are struggling with motivation or with fully completing your behavior challenges. Here is where we figure out what's working, what's not, and how you can tweak your plan to be more successful.

If you have done well, but not perfectly, you should still be proud of yourself. Is it easy to identify why you were not able to fully complete your challenge? Two weeks ago I skipped one day of strength training because I didn't do it first thing in the morning and told myself I'd do it "later". The problem was, that day and the next were packed minute by minute so there really was no way to get it in. This reinforced that I am much more consistent when I workout in the morning before my family gets up. So my plan last week was to be up at 5:30 M/W/F to lift weights. Unfortunately, I had to schedule two last minute early appointments so my plan was out the window. Because I learned from the previous week that I couldn't just promise myself I'd do it "later", I scheduled a specific time those evenings to do them. It worked and I felt so proud that I didn't let myself make excuses. If you can figure out what thwarted your efforts, try to brainstorm alternatives. Don't come up with just one, try to figure out a plan B, C, D, etc. If you can't stick to your plan, adjust your plan. If you are flexible in your thinking and can get right back up when you stumble, you'll stay on the right track in the long term.

Part of a behavior challenge is keeping track of your behaviors. I've been using the irunurun app (note: you don't have to have a smart phone, you can log in from your computer). I like it because they send me an e-mail reminding me to update my log. If I haven't done something, the reminder is a good nudge to get it done so I can mark it off. If you haven't been logging your challenges, that might be the first tweak to make. One of the participants told me that even though she was a little frustrated that she didn't do as well as she'd hoped the second week, she was able to see that she'd improved from the first week which encouraged her.

If you're struggling to get started, go back to the beginning and pick something easy to gain some momentum. I started with drinking water before my coffee because I knew I needed a "win" in the beginning. What is a small change you can make this week? Could you replace one calorie-laden drink with water? Could you move more even if you're not ready for a long, structured workout routine? Could you write down what you eat? Even if you don't measure portions or figure out calories, your eating will probably change by the sheer fact of having to write it down. Two of my personal training clients who've been struggling to do more than their workout with me once a week just agreed to join Weight Watchers (you know who you are and I WILL be waiting at the door!). So for them, just showing up, and signing up, will be a big move in the right direction. Maybe you're moving along fantastically and you're ready for a new challenge this week. But if you aren't where you'd hoped to be, change things up. You can make small tweaks to the challenges you've had the last two weeks or you can chuck them completely and start over again with a new challenge. You are in control and you make the choices that move you forward or hold you back. You will need to be flexible because there will always be obstacles. It's up to you whether they are roadblocks or detours.

How are you going to tweak this week?