LIVING WELL: MAKING A PLAN

Before getting pregnant with Soren I was eating very healthy and staying active several time each week. I felt great and loved my new motivation towards health and living well. After getting pregnant I became way less active and gave into cravings A LOT. Especially sweets. ;)  During this time I gave myself "pregnant" mercies and just let myself be ok with enjoying my cravings but still doing my best to also include healthy food into my diet regularly.

After having Soren I really wanted to take time to get back to it, start eating whole and yummy foods, and start being active again. I'm waiting my my doctor's final thumbs up to start exercising, but in the meantime I've been putting together a list of goals and ideas about how I can get back into shape and start living a healthy lifestyle again. It can be really difficult to get back into healthy living, it's especially difficult sticking to it! Here are a couple of things I'm doing in order to motivate myself and encourage myself to stick to it. :)

1. Set Attainable Goals - I'm trying to start simple by setting easy and straightforward goals at first. I don't want to overdo my expectations and lose steam if I can't accomplish them.

2. Baby Steps - When setting goals and rules for myself I love also giving it a timeline. For this first set of goals I'm planning to stick to it for 2 months and then re-evaluate and set new goals at the end of the two months. My hope is to create habits for myself while also creating defined stepping stones.

3. Rewards! - At the end of my 2 months I plan to reward myself after sticking to my plan. This will help motivate me to make it to the end of the two months and keep focused. Reward systems are the best. ;) Since I'm working on shedding lbs from the baby weight, my reward at the end of the two months will be a shopping budget for some new clothes. I can't wait. :)

4. Accountability - It's sad to say, but I find it quite easy to let myself down, especially when it comes to health. However, I have found that I get really motivated when someone is depending on me to follow through. Accountability is a powerful thing! Jon will be helping me out with these goals and he's planning to set some of his own for the next two months that I'll help hold him accountable to as well.

I'm currently working on writing out all of my goals and after I have my doctors appointment next week I'm planning on getting started! Maybe Soren will join me while I'm doing this??? ;)

Photo via Deb Schwedhelm