How to Start a Health and Wellness Challenge

If you’re wondering how to start a health and wellness challenge, keep reading for some helpful tips. A few months ago, I began a health and wellness challenge to uplevel my health, wellness, nutrition, and fitness.

I knew I needed to take some serious action and step it up in areas that needed my attention including fitness, nutrition, healthcare, dental care, and mental health. I also wanted to feel better in my body, have more energy and focus, and feel healthy overall.

Some of what I was experiencing was some weight gain, lower back issues, a lack of cardiovascular endurance, and weakness (losing muscle mass and strength). I was also feeling in a sort of a funk – I was tired constantly, had low energy, had trouble focusing, and was experiencing chronic stress and feelings of burnout.

I  knew I had to do something to improve these areas and start to feel better, so I developed a list of goals and actions, such as:

*Get back to my ideal weight (about 8-10 lbs. lighter)

*Take care of my healthcare needs (dental work, an annual doctor visit, addressing my lower back concern)

*Seek therapy for mental health

*Get back to an optimal fitness level

*Work on self-confidence and self-esteem

*Optimize my living environment

My Health and Wellness Challenge Story

First 30-90 Days:

So I started a 30-day challenge, thinking I could resolve everything in just 30 days. While I did get started on some things, I quickly realized it was going to take much longer. After 30 days, 60 days, and then 90 days, I didn’t feel or see any progress and felt very discouraged.

90-120 Days and Beyond:

Now, here I am 4 months later (120 days) and counting, and I am finally starting to feel and see some progress. After the 90-day mark, I decided to reevaluate what I was doing and incorporated some additional resources and tools to help me along. More information about those resources and tools is later in this post, so keep reading.

Reevaluating My Progress and Health and Wellness Challenge

Even though I was still feeling discouraged, my reevaluation showed me that I was making some progress. To keep myself motivated, I focused on what I did during the first month of my challenge. I took care of my healthcare needs. I started therapy once a week, started my dental work, went to my annual doctor visit, went to physical therapy and started on a treatment plan, and started a steady walking regime (walking 40 minutes, 4-5x week). That’s A LOT to accomplish in just one month.

Over the following few months, I started going back to the gym about twice a week and started developing healthier eating habits. I was more intentional with my meals, meal planning, grocery shopping, made more balanced meals, and started tracking my calories and macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, healthy fats). I also took steps to ease my stress levels, rest, and create more balance in my life.

So, even though progress has been slow, there were noticeable, significant changes in my health, fitness, eating habits, and energy levels. Now I am feeling an overall better sense of wellbeing due to the many actions I took toward my health & wellness.

The key takeaway to a health and wellness challenge is that noticeable change can be achieved by developing positive habits that are sustainable over the long term. In other words, to keep on going, even when feeling discouraged.

Midway through my health and wellness challenge, I incorporated some tools that helped track my progress and keep me motivated to continue. Keep reading for some helpful tools, resources, and tips that might also help you along the way!

How to Start a Health & Wellness Challenge

Determine Key Health and Wellness Areas You Want to Uplevel

Some areas may be more important to you than others such as focusing on nutrition or losing weight, or on your fitness levels, or healthcare, mental wellness, self-esteem, or your environment. These areas are all important and work holistically in overall health and wellness. You may be doing well in some aspects but maybe not others. Perhaps you want to uplevel everything. This is for you to determine. List them out and determine where you want to focus on.

List goals/outcomes you want to achieve within each area and things you want to implement. Here are some ideas:

Nutrition

Goals/Outcomes:

• Feel healthier in my body
• Lose a certain amount of weight
• Body measurement goals

To Implement:

• Start meal planning and choosing healthy, well-balanced meals
• Grocery shop for the week choosing healthy meals
• Start tracking calorie intake
• Eat a balanced breakfast every morning with my morning coffee
• Find ways to make this easier with my busy schedule (i.e.: do grocery pickup/delivery or try a meal service)

Fitness/Exercise

Goals/Outcomes:

• Have more energy
• Feel good and healthy
• Be stronger

To Implement:

• Start the habit of walking 4-5 times per week (at least 10 -30 minutes a day)
• Join a gym or start using gym membership
• Hire a personal trainer
• Implement a fun, recreational activity weekly into my regime: (i.e.: hiking, bike riding, yoga, etc.)

Healthcare

Goals/Outcomes:

• Get much needed dental work taken care of
• Ensure I am doing preventative care
• Start seeing a therapist for anxiety and mental health

To Implement:

• Find a dentist and make first appointment
• Make an appointment with my doctor for annual physical
• Take the MyWellbeing app quiz (or other one) to find a therapist that aligns with my needs.

Determine a time frame for the challenge

A 30-day challenge is okay however it usually takes much longer to develop habits for the long-term and to see results. It’s okay to start with 30 days but I advise to keep going after that mark and to not give up if you do not see results. If you took actions daily and weekly, there will have been some positive changes, however they might be difficult to notice that early. As I described above in my challenge, mine has lasted considerably longer than 30 days and is a continual process. A 120-day (4 month) challenge might be more realistic to start. After that period, you can reevaluate and then start a fresh challenge and keep on going or working toward keeping things maintained.

Set daily and weekly implementations and goals:

Now that you’ve determined your health and wellness challenge time frame and goals/outcomes you want to achieve and what you need to do to get there. Break down those goals and implementations even further into daily and weekly manageable implementations and goals. For example, if I want to start walking 3-4 times a week and I have been mostly sedentary for a year, then I will want to start small – perhaps 1-2 days a week the first week for 10-20 minutes, and then build from there. The key is to develop sustainable habits and goals and things you can achieve to keep you motivated to keep going.

Health and Wellness Tools and Resources

Now, that you know how to start a health and wellness challenge, I’ve listed some tools and resources that could be valuable in your journey. These are things I have used and have found to be very helpful.

The Daily Greatness Journal

I came across the Daily Greatness Journal one day while I was browsing online, and it seemed like an easy way to provide some extra motivation and track my progress. The one I use for my health and wellness challenge is the “Daily Greatness Training Journal: 12 Weeks to a Rocking Fit Body, Mind, and Spirit.” You can find it here. In addition to tracking your fitness goals, it helps with your mindset, provides inspiration, and can also work as a planner. So far it has helped increase my awareness of my habits and helped me form new healthier habits. If you’re looking for a tool that will help motivate you to do the work and stay consistent, try this journal.

MyFitnessPal App

The MyFitnessPal App is a great tool to easily track meals, calories, nutrients, and exercise. It has a huge catalog of foods and many useful features to make tracking your progress easy. Since I started using it, I’ve noticed a big difference in my eating and nutrition habits because I can track and measure my progress daily and be more intentional with my meals. This has allowed me to notice patterns and apply positive changes to my eating habits.

You can sign up for MyFitnessPal here. First, it asks a few simple questions regarding your goals and then takes you to sign up for a free trial. After the trial period, you have the option to sign up for a month-by-month or annual subscription, or you can cancel. A year subscription is only $79.99, which I found more worth it than a monthly subscription because I knew I would make the most of it.

Printable Tracker

A physical tracker can be used also to help you track and measure your progress. I like to use the tracker simultaneously with the other tools because it provides a glance at where I am daily and weekly. I keep it on a clipboard by my desk, so I can see it daily. At the end of the week, I assess how I did and make improvements or changes as needed for the next week.If you prefer a physical tracker or want to use it simultaneously with the other tools, Canva has a lot of tracker templates that you can customize, download and print. They have a free version which makes it very easy.

MyWellbeing

When I was seeking a therapist, I discovered the MyWellbeing website. The MyWellbeing site starts with a simple quiz to find out your therapy needs and then refers you to matching therapists based on your preferences. They email you their matching therapist selections where you can either contact them yourself or each therapist will send an email to set up a consultation call. I liked this approach because I often found in the past that searching for a therapist and making calls myself was overwhelming. Their approach also isn’t spammy, which I liked. The therapist I found matched really well. Therapy has helped me work through some barriers and my mindset and has made a huge difference during my challenge.

“Atomic Habits” by James Clear

The book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear provides clear, easy steps on how to go about changing habits. The strategies can be applied to any area in life where you want to create new positive habits or break down old ones. In your health and wellness journey, the knowledge and tangible strategies learned and applied from this book can be very helpful.

This article by James Clear https://jamesclear.com/new-habit is also helpful because it provides insight into how long it actually takes to build a habit.

Tips to Help Stay Motivated and on Track With Your Health and Wellness Journey

Keep Going

If you’ve been doing the work but not seeing any results, this is the time when it is vital to keep going – even if progress feels slow. Going slow is okay and actually better than seeing changes too quickly. If you still feel you are not seeing any changes in 1-3 months, take a look back and notice the smaller changes or habits that might have developed over time. Perhaps you notice a small but positive lifestyle change, or maybe you’ve started going for more walks in the morning, etc. Then, dig a little deeper and assess where you can make some more positive changes or uplevel in some areas.

I cannot stress it enough…keep on going! It is important to be patient and kind to yourself when going through a transition process. That is something I’ve learned in therapy. I am showing myself more compassion and know it will take time for my habits to change and thus noticeably see differences.

“Even the most subtle positive changes are beneficial.”

Reassess Often During Your Health and Wellness Challenge

Assess daily, weekly, and monthly to keep yourself on track and to find patterns and change them as needed. A deeper reevaluation might be needed if you do not notice much progress after a few months. You might want to try some new tools or strategies. For example, in my own journey, after the two-month mark, I reevaluated how I was going about things, added some new tools, and stepped up my game  – which helped me not get bored and motivated me to keep going – and I made more progress in doing so. The tools and resources noted above were really helpful in helping me step it up.

Figure out your “why” and use that as a motivator to keep going.

Knowing “why” you want something is a powerful force to make changes and to keep going even when you feel like you want to give up. Listen to this Tony Robbins speech about the driving force. I also discuss more about your “why” in this post: Goal-Setting Methods that Work!

In Summary

If you are on your own health and wellness challenge or journey, I hope this article has inspired you to take steps toward new habits and positive changes.

Remember:

Developing a habit takes time! Long-term results can be achieved by developing sustainable habits – which take time to develop.

When you start to feel discouraged, take a look back and assess how far you’ve come along and list the things you DID because those count!

Try some of the tips and resources mentioned in this blog post. Sometimes, just by tracking your journey, it helps create awareness of what habits need to change and how you need to heal.

Remember, it’s also important to talk to a healthcare professional about any health and wellness concerns you may have before starting a health and fitness regime.

Sage