Some things to keep in mind before embarking on your 30-Day Challenge:
- Take the time to prepare before you start. Give yourself a few days at least to plan meals/snacks, shop, get your tracking set up with the foods you plan to eat, etc. If you jump into the challenge without this, you’ll be struggling to keep up.
- You can make substitutes to the meal plan; just make sure the food’s nutritional content comes close to the food it is replacing.
- Be sure to get enough sleep. A lack of sleep increases carb cravings and calorie intake.
- If you’re a stress eater, you may want to add another challenge to practice one stress reduction technique daily. I could be simple breathing exercises, meditation, yoga poses, quiet time, uplifting music or anything else that helps you to ease the feelings of stress.
- What can you expect to get out of this 30-Day Challenge? It depends on the amount of effort you put into it. The behaviors on the 30-Day Challenge are important behaviors to keep in place for life. Thirty days is a good amount of time for those behaviors to start to feel more natural and automatic. The behaviors are the really the goal—weight, fitness, and well-being will follow.
- You may lose a few pounds during the 30 days, but keep in mind this is not a crash diet, but a way of living. You will most likely be able to do more physical activity at the end. Perhaps your stress level will be lower, you may have an enhanced sense of control, or you may sleep better. Think through how you will measure your success.
