6 Tips For Reaching Your Health-Related Goals This Year

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Splenda Naturals as part of an Influencer Activation and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

Making the decision to get healthy or live a healthier lifestyle is the easy part. The hard part comes, when it’s time to reach the goals that you tell yourself you want to achieve.

Each year I have health-related goals that I adapt to my motivation and lifestyle. I use the following tips to help me reach my health-related goals and today I’m sharing them with you so you can crush your health-related goals this year as well.

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Give Yourself an Official Start Date (and Start Prepping Ahead of Time)

The first thing to do when it comes to reaching your health-related goals (or any goals for that matter) is to give yourself an official start date and start prepping yourself for it ahead of time.

For example, in my case, I said that I was going to stop drinking alcohol at home and focus on drinking more water and green tea instead.

My official start date was January 1^st. Therefore, I started prepping myself for this change a week in advance by cutting back my alcohol consumption and using an app to track the amount of water I was drinking each day with an aim of drinking at least two bottles of water per day.

Perform Research to See What Others Did to Improve Their Health

I’m already obsessed with performing research (as we all should be) as the time we spend doing research (which can sometimes be hours for me) saves us money and wasted time in the long run.

One of my long-term goals is to lose 50lbs by the end of the year. To set up smaller goals for myself to ensure I meet this goal I must have read at least 100 blog posts.

You see in today’s day in time there’s just so many fads, diet plans, apps, and a slew of other things being thrown in our face to help us lose weight or get healthy. However, purchasing even a handful of these things can add up over the course of a year (another goal I have for this year is to save more so wasting money trying stuff that won’t work isn’t an option this year for me).  This is where research comes in.

By performing research you’ll be able to see real results from other people for products and services that you’re considering (or a lack of results).

By looking into different things instead of purchasing whatever fits your budget and has an especially well-written ad, you’ll get the best bang for your buck and be one step closer to reaching your health-related goal. Furthermore, you’ll be able to get inside peaks into how the average person (just like you) met their health goals.

Don’t Be Afraid to Substitute Some of Your Favorite Things Out for Healthier Alternatives

Despite what we eliminate from our diets there is probably still room for improvements. For example, I personally don’t eat pork (haven’t ate it since I was a kid), limit my fried food intake (a few times a year), don’t drink soda (unless it’s Ginger Ale due to not feeling well), and limit my bread intake.

While all those things are great there are still other areas that I can improve – substituting at least five things from my diet for healthier alternatives is another one of my goals.

For example, when making green tea I usually do a drop of honey, lemon juice, and a spoon of sugar. However, to cut back on some of the calories (especially since I’m increasing my daily green tea dosage) I am now cutting back to just using Splenda Naturals.

Splenda Naturals tastes great, is 100% natural, doesn’t leave an after taste, doesn’t have calories, and doesn’t have all that artificial stuff in it – who knew that a healthier lifestyle could taste so sweet?

Other healthier alternatives that I’ll be trying this year include Amino Energy, which will be replacing my current go-to energy drink and Gold Standard Whey.

Amino Energy seems like a great choice for energy drink drinkers since it’s easy to make (just mix it with water), it only has 5 calories AND no sugar (hopefully this helps avoid crashing) and can be used at any time of day.

Gold Standard Whey is on my list because once I am working out on a regular basis, with more strength training and not just yoga, I hope it will add in my fitness journey. Its primary source is whey protein isolate, it only contains 120 calories and its gluten-free.

Making these three substitutions are very small, but the goal is that they will make me feel better throughout the day and put me closer to reaching my health-related goals this year.

Don’t Be Afraid to Let Others Know Your Plans (But Do Be Prepared to Distance Yourself from Them if They Won’t Support You)

I feel like this one is one of the most important tips when it comes to meeting your health-related goals.

Having toxic, unsupportive people in your life is one of the quickest ways to give up on your goals and find it almost impossible to see any progress being made.

Now, I’m not saying that everyone should change their lifestyles just because you’re changing yours, but if they are a part of your immediate circle that should show some support.

For example, when I told my partner about my health-related goals for the year he was on board with supporting my decision to not drink at home anymore and get back active with working out. He was willing to go to a trial group fitness class with me and even committed to not drinking at home during the weekday himself.

Additionally, he was also open to swapping out some of the things he has for healthier alternatives, with one of them being Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold, which has 85 calories and 2.5 carbs.

Be Brutally Honest with Yourself About Exactly What You Need to Change to Meet Your Goals

In order to set health goals, one thing that I’ve found out is that you must be brutally honest with yourself (the truth hurts). You really must drill down and see what your problems are to be able to come up with solutions to figure out what’s hindering you from being in your best health.

For me, I concluded my biggest thing was alcohol consumption and sitting behind my computer for hours on end.

In 2018, I cut back on kickboxing classes and eventually didn’t renew my membership when it expired. I blamed this on work, which was the truth since as an assistant my days Monday – Friday are pretty much booked solid and by the time work is over I’m ready to relax and unwind (usually with a drink).

While it is true, I could go to the very first class of the morning (5 am) or the last class at night (7 pm) this started not happening more often and the kickboxing class happens to be right next to the ABC store, which was causing another expensive habit.

Anyways, not working out and drinking wine or mixed drinks throughout the week were adding up calories that I wasn’t losing, which resulted in the scale reading higher and higher. Therefore, I had to make the decision to get back on track with fitness or be at the point where I was disgusted with my body.

My solution was to make time to work out at home (I’ve started doing yoga 15-30 minutes per day) and stopped drinking at home. (I can still drink when I go out, but with my schedule, this is something that I’m not able to do on a weekly basis).

The bottom line is if you haven’t gotten brutally honest with yourself, you need to do so ASAP if you want to have any chance of getting on track with meeting your health-related goals.

Make Sure to Celebrate Your Accomplishments

Lastly, stay on track with your health-related goals throughout the entire year by celebrating your accomplishments no matter how small they are. For example, after my first 10 days of not drinking at home, I treated myself to an evening out with a friend where we had a mixed drink and steamed shrimp at a bar.

Celebrating accomplishments, even in a small way, gives you the motivation and strength to keep pushing forward.

Once I get to my six months mark, I’m planning to take a weekend vacation. I’m currently debating on going to Las Vegas or Aruba for a weekend – both of which are on my travel bucket list for the year already.

Final Thoughts – You Can Reach Your Health-Related Goals This Year

With these tips, you’ll find yourself able to reach your health-related goals this year in no time. Whether you take baby steps and switch out some of your products for Splenda Naturals, Optimum Nutrition, or Michelob PURE Gold or do something such as signing up for a new fitness class, these tips will help.

What are your health-related goals for this year?