The holidays are just around the corner! But before things become hectic, make a commitment to your health by creating a holiday wellness plan. Planning can help you stick with your goals and start the new year off on the right foot to avoid playing catch-up on your resolution. Follow these steps to create your plan!
- Choose your goal. Whether you’ve already been working on a goal or are just starting, it is important to set a concrete, realistic goal. Here are some examples:
- Maintaining your weight. We say maintaining because weight loss during the holidays can be challenging!
- Staying active. The winter months can make exercise a challenge not only because of exercise, but due to less time and daylight.
- Eating healthy. Holiday parties can be a challenge for even the healthiest eater!
- Stressing less. For some people, stress and the holidays are synonymous.
- Avoid overspending. Sticking to your budget can be difficult during the holidays.
- Once you’ve established your overall goal for the holidays, break this goal into shorter goals. For example:
- If your goal is to maintain your weight, you’ll want to do so with a combination of healthy eating and staying active.
- For those wanting to stay active, you’ll want to pick a few winter-friendly activities as well as ideas for reducing sedentary behavior.
- Eating healthy during the holiday season will require you to maintain good eating habits at holiday gatherings and the in-between times.
- If your goal is to stress less, you’ll want to create a plan to manage your time and find relaxing activities to help you decompress.
- Avoid breaking your budget by allotting a specific amount of money you can spend on gifts, food for holiday parties, and other expenses related to the season as well as keeping your credit card balance in check.
- Establish SMART goals each week. SMART goals areSpecific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. Identify 1 to 2 things you can do that will help you achieve your short-term goal, which will subsequently contribute to your overall holiday goal.
Try these SMART goals or modify them to better suit your needs!
- Goal: Maintain your weight
- Pack a healthy lunch three days per week.
- Commit to starting every holiday party with a salad to help you avoid overindulging on less healthy party fare.
- Goal: Stay active
- Walk up 10 minutes early 5 days per week and do one of our workouts of the week.
- Stand up and walk around during commercial breaks.
- Goal: Eat healthy
- Add an additional serving of fruit or vegetables four days per week between lunch and dinner.
- Start your day with a healthy breakfast 5 days per week.
- Goal: Reduce Stress
- Plan to spend 15 minutes before bed, 3 nights per week, doing a relaxing activity like reading.
- Write out a schedule each week so you know what tasks need to be completed.
- Goal: Avoid overspending
- Examine your budget once a week and determine how much you can realistically spend on gifts.
- Find areas where you can save money. For example, brew your own coffee 4 days per week rather than buying it at a coffee shop.
Good luck on creating and implementing your holiday wellness plan!
