Tips for Making Healthy Lifestyle Changes

This post was sponsored by Hood as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

New changes come with a new year, at least in our house. I’ve never been a fan of resolutions because they never seem to stick but I’m a believer in making healthy lifestyle changes. Before the new year started, my family and I sat down to talk about what changes we wanted to make in order to have a better year. Some of the changes we wanted to make were taking better care of ourselves, spending more uninterrupted family time and eating healthier.

If you’ve ever opted for making changes, you know that it’s not easy. Changes take time especially big ones but they’re completely worth the time and effort. If you’re on the brink of making healthy lifestyle changes here’s a few tips to get you started.

Tips for Making Healthy Lifestyle Changes

1. Write down your goals

Before you can begin making healthy lifestyle changes you have to write down your goals. Take a moment to think about why you want to make the changes and what all of your goals are. What do you want to get out of making healthy lifestyle changes?

2. Create a plan

After you’ve written down all of your goals, create a plan that will actually work. The key to creating a successful plan is to think long term. You want to allow yourself time to achieve the goals that you’ve set for yourself. Be very specific when you’re creating your plan. If you want working out to be a change that you make, write down how and when you’ll integrate working out into your schedule. Write everything down and make sure it’s realistic for your life.

3. Start small

The last thing that you want is to get discouraged early on. Break down your goals into small manageable steps and don’t overwhelm yourself early on. One of our goals as a family is to eat healthier and make better food choices this year. We start small by tossing the traditional milk for Hood Calorie Countdown that we found at Walmart (find a retailer near you here), a milky smooth dairy beverage that has 42% fewer calories, 75% less sugar and 67% fewer carbohydrates than milk. It’s the perfect alternative for anyone looking to make a healthy lifestyle change.

We don’t have to worry about any growth hormones in Hood because Calorie Countdown is made with milk from farmers who pledge not to use them. Each cup provides 25% of your Daily Value for calcium and 15% of your Daily Value for Vitamin D (based on a 2,000-calorie diet).

4. Focus on one change at a time

Once you’ve made your first change, focus on that for a few days or even weeks. We like to focus on one change for at least 3 weeks so that it naturally becomes a part of our routine. After a few weeks, we start implementing the next change. I would suggest starting with the simplest change first that way you’re more motivated after you’ve successfully completed that change and made it a part of your new healthy lifestyle.

5. Find an accountability partner

Accountability partners are great for helping you to stay on track. If you’re recruiting your accountability partner to make the changes with you then that’s even better. You can both focus on making the changes together and adjusting things as you move towards completing your goals.

6. Involve the whole family

I love involving the family when making healthy lifestyle changes. Not only can we keep each other on track but it makes it easier. Have you ever tried to go on a diet or make healthier food choices while everyone else is indulging in junk food? It’s not fun and it makes for a little hostility. You don’t have to make the changes alone. Involve the whole family to find healthier recipes that everyone will love. You can even cook them together to create special memories while getting into shape.

7. Make it fun

Making healthy lifestyle changes doesn’t have to be boring. One thing that we like to do is reward ourselves once we reach our goals. The rewards can be simple things like picking the movie for family movie night or choosing which game we’ll play for game night.