The objective of the game is to create sustainable habits #LivingFitLifestyle Click To Tweet
By Bernadette Kathryn, LMT, IHLC
Now is the time to have a real sit-down with ourselves and our internal posse, and come up with our smarter goals for this game and our healthy lifestyle. Get out your pen & paper or your iPad, however, you are comfortable taking notes and get busy — get organized and make some smarter goals for this game period!
This game is ten weeks, and our lifestyle stays with us for our lifetime! Choosing a healthy lifestyle is just that — a choice. And, that decision is one we face with time and again when we get stressed, are hungry, travel, and go out with friends and family. We bombarded with a multitude of choices that can either support a healthy lifestyle choice or not.
It is entirely unrealistic to think that we will make the healthiest choice 100% of the time, which is why this game has built in ‘cheat meals’ each week. We all need to take a break from our work, workout, ‘diet’ and chores — decompress a little, right? The goal of this game is to help us become more aware of the choices that we are all making every day, over and over again, that either supports our health or not. Once we begin to see the behaviors, that can potentially be destructive over time, we are better able to change them. And, if we want to support our health and that of our families — consistency in healthy choices is the most supportive thing we can do for ourselves.
The objective of the game is to create sustainable habits that will support a long healthy life, and there are several components:
- Living Fit food plan — enjoying well-balanced meals from our list of ‘whole real food’ at regular intervals to ensure that we are optimizing our metabolism.
- Water — drinking 2-3 liters of pure water every day — forgetting the juice, soda, diet drinks and limiting the adult beverages to 2 days a week!
- Exercise — minimum 30 minutes a day for a minimum of 180 minutes each week — do your very best and work up to more without overdoing it!
- Sleep — the most underrated healthy habit in modern times — we need to recharge our batteries, 6-8 hours sleep each night.
- Communication — is an essential element in every good relationship and we need healthy relationships to thrive in this world.
- Gratitude — an attitude of gratitude is essential to a healthy spirit. The more grateful you are for what you have, the better you feel, take a look around…
Make your SMARTER GOALS on any area of life that you wish to work on
SET yourself up for SUCCESS — with these helpful steps:
- Choose your top 3 goals to focus on for the duration of this game! And, give some thought to the PLAN that will ensure your success!
- Align your goals with your core values – set a goal that is meaningful for you and is in alignment with your personal beliefs and character.
- Share your goal with at least 3-5 people that are willing to hold you accountable to your goals. Sharing your goals is where your team and the Living Fit Lifestyle Family come in. When you share your goal with the community, you are putting your commitment on the line. Your teammates are perfect for this task!
- Establish a support system! Where can you go for inspiration, support, encouragement and advice, and feedback? We at HQ are here to help, there are many recipes on the site to help, and the Recipe Resources has my favorite selection of websites to inspire me when I am looking for new recipes. When you need help with recipe choices, you can ask your team the Living Fit Lifestyle Family for assistance too!
- Assemble everything you need to support your success. Print and read the rules, make sure you understand the expectations for winning. Print your daily score sheets, print the sanctioned food list and meal suggestions. Go to the grocery store and start cooking! Organize your meals, water, and cucumbers! Schedule your exercise time to make sure you get it into the plan. Plan your sleep schedule if that is going to be a challenge for you.
- Minimize potential pitfalls! Think through your schedule and life. Look for places where you might need to plan ahead. Are you going to be out of the house for a few hours? Maybe you need to pack a lunch bag? Are you going to be working late? Will you need to pack a dinner to eat at the office? Do you have a selection of restaurants that have ‘sanctioned’ meal items on their menu? Is your pantry stocked with ‘sanctioned’ food items? Do you have time in your schedule to shop, prep, and cook? Think about all the possible variables that will ensure your success in the Living Fit Game!
- Plan to reward yourself – don’t wait until the end of the game to reward your progress! Plan rewards each week to celebrate your successes. Make a list of awards that you will enjoy and strive to find rewards that support your goals!
from Lisa – HOT MAMAS
My Goals:
1) Commit to daily activity – no excuses
2) Meal plan – not just for me but for the family
3) Work on posture and muscle building slowly – many little steps = big movement
1. Get back on track with food. 2. Cook more 3. More consistent meditation.
Smart Goals for Lawrence
1. Reduce my weight by 10 lbs a month.
2. Journal 5 times a week ( 1 page min)
3. Track every penny for 6 weeks
My 3 goals: 1. Keep score on paper for each meal. 2. Exercise 6 days a week, – walking, class, & yoga 3. Get control of my sugar addiction, being mindful of what has sugar besides candy!
from Tim – Awesome 4
Goals:
1) Lose 20lbs.(on way down 3)
2) Eat right all meals no more cheating(all day)
3) No late night snacks.. been a week and loving it.. sleeping better
from Tim – Awesome 4
Goals:
1) Lose 20lbs.(on way down 3)
2) Eat right all meals no more cheating(all day)
3) No late night snacks.. been a week and loving it.. sleeping better
from M- B & B
Pick 3 goals for the game:
1) Exercise – my goals for this are walk to and from work every work day. Be in the the pool a minimum of 3 days per week and make a minimum of 3 trips to the gym per week.
They are in order of importance, so that if one has to get dropped for a week it would be the gym.
2) Food & Water – As I am playing the game my goals is very simple, keep score and get ensure I get the ‘prescribed’ amount of each every day. Yes that includes vegetables.
3) Participating – My last of the three goals and probably the most important is to participate by actively answering the daily challenges and sharing them.
Three goals for this 10 week period!
1) get back to daily exercise since the virus is gone, thank goodness
2) keep track of all the food, water, exercise — score sheet!
3) take vitamins daily – organize and be easy with breakfast
Those are mine for now — what are yours?
By the end of the game (March 30) I want to have reduced my waist size to predefined size (not sharing that) to be consistently in the gym/pool/on the road 6 days a week and getting a great ratio of protein to veggie
YES I READ THE THE HEALTHY LIFESTYLE IN READY 4 LIFE GAME IS GOOD FOR ME COZ THIS IS MY NEW YEAR RESOLUTION..AND FIND HEALTHY ALTERNATIVES.AND I TRY THIS CHALLENGE OF THIS GAME.
My main goal is to stay on track 90% — we are not looking for perfection, it’s highly overrated! I am committed to building a support system that is full of sincerity and possibilities. Creating a network of support for all of us to enjoy and benefit from.
From Joyce – HOT MAMAS
Main Goal: Create healthy lifestyle. From Nike commercial – “Just do it!” I need to just focus on the outcome of a healthy lifestyle and do the game checklist every day.
From Joyce – HOT MAMAS
Main Goal: Create healthy lifestyle. From Nike commercial – “Just do it!” I need to just focus on the outcome of a healthy lifestyle and do the game checklist every day.
Goal: Follow the plan with the majority of weeks only down 20 points. I found last round that if I wasn’t in that ball park, I wasn’t achieving my larger goals of weight loss, sleep, exercise. Sadly, I have to be THAT good for an effect.
new year, new game! i like “become more aware of choices”. instead of finding excuses why i can’t do…………look carefully and find healthy alternatives. it seems daunting at first but with practice it becomes easier. i am trying to learn from new challenges and not be afraid.
All good plans, you guys! I am inspired to work on smart goals like gratitude at the end of exercise while stretching.
My goal is to include more animal protein, keeping meal notes, planning out my weeks for healthier eating and continue to exercise exercise exercise!!
September 16 — starting over for some of us — that went awol over the last month or two???
I feel pretty good with the core components of the game — I need to be strict with my strength training because it supports my massage work and my body doesn’t like it when I don’t do it
I also am looking at adding in a 2x weekly yoga class at lunch — will decide on that by end of week.
I have a class that I must complete by the end of this game — that is my biggie!!
I am structuring my homework to be sure I complete by the end of our 12 weeks.
What are YOUR SMART GOALS — for this time period?
response — from Bern-ettes……
if I may speak for the team? BRING IT ON!
From Fit & Focused in CA — to Bern-ettes……
Congratulations to the Bern-ettes! Good game Girls! We are planning on some REAL competition this go around.
My goal is to work on the attitude and to commit to the food plan, even after a long week. I am pretty good about exercise and completely devoted to sleep.
So for attitude, I plan to take a deep breath before reacting to stress. Hopefully giving myself a minute will allow me to act, not react. Re: the food plan – I will need to learn about small meals/snacks and commit to eating more frequently, but less.
same old, same old! eating plan. still needs work. plan is to keep notes. I will have references to balanced meals I like and remember them. also, set aside more time to cook batches of essentials (ie:stocks) and freeze for future use.
great ideas Debbie — cook once and eat three times by keeping healthy items in the freezer, very efficient!
Just remember to label everything with the date 🙂
I know an overall goal for me is to get more vigilant about getting my snacks at the proper intervals. To this end I will keep nuts and cucumber in my office for a quick metabolism boost/hunger fighter. I also want to make my daily meditation with gratitude at a more regular time each day. I usually do it right after exercise as a cool down and to thank my body for what its done for me, but there are days that I don’t have time right after exercise. So maybe I need to build this in to my exercise time to insure that I don’t miss it. I would also like to build in a couple of Fen Shui ideas into my home… couldn’t hurt! I will make an effort to socialize with a friend every week (not related to work). I finally got the water intake down, so I will continue my vigilance with this. Adding fruit and/ or cucumber slices to a pitcher of water helps get it all down.
good work Pamela — very thoughtful!! You are on it, go girl 🙂