You’re doing great! You are now on day 21 of our 30-Day Nutrition Challenge. Guess what? It’s meant to take 21 days to develop a habit. This means that after today, you’ve made your new way of eating a healthy habit! Why is the challenge 30 days instead of 21 days? The answer is that 30 days of healthy eating make your new habit stick even more than if you just developed the new habit and ended the challenge.
Making Your New Healthy Habits Stick
The key to making a habit stick is continuing to set new goals that challenge you. Therefore, we encourage you to set goals for the rest of this challenge (if you haven’t already) and to plan your next week or two after the challenge finishes. What are your goals for next month? When you know what you will do after you finish a challenge, it helps you stick with your goals and avoid ruining your new positive habit by binging or going right back into your previously ingrained habits.
There are habits and there are HABITS. The habits that really truly stick are the ones you stick with for the longest period of time. When I want to make a lasting change, I often go for as long of a period as I feel is challenging but achievable. See my 6-Month Nutrition and Fitness Experiment to learn how I made the biggest change in my health and fitness.
Celebrate Your Habit
Yes! You heard right … go celebrate your habit. Make sure you celebrate in a healthy way … preferably a non-food-related way.
Here are 5 ways you can celebrate your new habit in a healthy way.
1. Go for a walk or hike in a place you really love. I love to walk on the beach.
2. Take a workout class you enjoy or have wanted to try. There are so many choices. If you enjoy dancing, try Zumba. See my Zumba posts.
3. Meet up with a friend or family member and do a fun activity (a sport, bowling, or game). It’s fun to do something different with those you’re close to.
4. See a movie. Even though this isn’t active, it’s a fun way to turn off and celebrate.
5. Go to an event. See a concert, play, musical, sporting event, or performance near you.
Back to Business
Now that you know how you will celebrate, do it, enjoy it, and stay on the challenge while you do so. Continue to set your goals, write your affirmations, speak positive self talk, and eat healthily.
Enjoy the feeling of setting a new positive habit. Be proud of yourself. We are proud of you!
Share Your Experience With Us
We’re so happy you’ve joined us with the 30-Day Challenge!
We’d love to hear how you’re doing and what you’ve enjoyed so far. Join us daily here on our blog and on our Fit Body Full Life Facebook Page!
We recommend checking with your physician before making any changes to your diet.
Image credit: mtkang / 123RF Stock Photo
I think what keeps us going is the “celebrating” part. Reward becomes very important when milestone are hit!
Building healthy habits is absolutely critical to stay on track and achieve our goals. We must stay focused when setting out to achieve these goals. The best way to do that is to make simple habits a part of our daily routine. I have heard that it takes about 20 days to create a habit, so stick with it for at least a month and goals will be easier to achieve.
Changing habits can be very challenging to say the least, sometimes in the beginning it is better to make 1 change per week. Be disciplined enough to work on that new habit daily, as each day goes by it will get easier. Putting up reminders on the bathroom mirror, at your desk, on the refrigerator are all very useful in continually reminding your self. Another great option is using your smart phone to set up alerts as well.
Such an amazing article about healthy habits. The best way to do that is to make simple habits a part of our daily routine. This is great option to setup alerts on your smart phones. Thanks for sharing it.