Creating Healthy Habits

WRITTEN BY: SUSAN HOFF

It’s the challenge that thrills me. It’s what keeps me working into the wee hours of the night and up again before the crack of dawn. It’s being the chief communications officer in a male dominant Fortune 100 industry and earning my MBA in France while teaming up with my husband to start a successful winery in Napa Valley. It’s never settling for anything and knowing you can do better, because you can. That climb to doing better begins with a simple step: the decision to start a healthy habit.

Two years before celebrating my 50th birthday, I earned my certification as a personal trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine and two years later claimed my Fitness Pro Card at the WBFF’s World’s Competition in 2015. While I could have been spending my mornings in the gym, afternoons reading new novels, and evenings sipping wine in the vineyards of Napa Valley, I found my motivation in helping others achieve a healthy habit. And these are the steps to get started.

Schedule Your Daily Goals

You wouldn’t make dinner without first having all the ingredients and a plan. The same can be said for starting a healthy habit. First, you need to commit to yourself what you want to achieve, then you need to draw out the steps it takes to get there—that requires having a daily plan.

No matter how busy my life gets, I never miss my scheduled workout. I have made an oath to myself that getting in my daily workout is top priority because it will help me succeed in every aspect of life. I put my workout on my calendar as a meeting with myself and it requires me to stay accountable. Having integrity and accomplishing the goals you set for yourself each day, even if they are small ones, helps you have confidence in yourself, and you’re not only exercising your body, but you are exercising your willpower.

Plan Your Meals

Planning dinner shouldn’t be your only scheduled meal. Rather, planning breakfast, lunch and dinner keeps you in line and significantly reduces the chance you’ll cave for an unhealthy doublecheese burger, fries and soda combo at the nearest burger joint down the road from work. You should eat to thrive, not to just eat. Planning your meals and cooking at home is both a healthy and financially responsible option.

As an added bonus, using the MyMacros+ app on your phone to track your protein, carb and fat intake provides an added perspective for the nutritional value of your meals.

Find the Program That Works for You

The reason why there are so many fitness guides, books, and programs is that there is no one perfect way to accomplish your fitness goals. We’re all structured differently in the way we work, relax, eat and sleep. To get you started on your fitness journey, I encourage you to write down exactly why you want to make a change. Whether it’s for your career, significant other or that recreational softball league, when you start with why you want make a change, the will to make it happen comes naturally.

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