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Week 2: Creating A Plan Of Action
If you've ever felt like your life was directing you instead of you directing your life, you're not alone. This week you're going to figure out what will motivate you to take control and adopt better exercise and eating habits.
Assess Yourself
Think back to a time when you consciously chose a different direction or activity that had a positive effect on you. Describe it below.
- _________________________________________
What motivated you to make that change?
- _________________________________________
How did you feel after you made the change?
- _________________________________________
Set Short-Term Goals
This week, focus your energy on successfully completing your daily goals. Over the next 10 weeks, each short-term goal you set will become the building blocks for achieving your long-term goal.
Identify several time periods when you may be inactive this week and turn them into active periods. Look for opportunities to accumulate 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity during your day. It's ok to break them up into 10- to 15-minute segments if you don't have 30 continuous minutes to spare.
How To Create Short-Term Goals
- Set specific, realistic goals.
- Record your choices every day.
- Reward yourself for reaching your daily and weekly goals. Decide in advance what your prize will be for thinking and learning more about being active.
Sample Short-Term Goals
Goal No. 1: By the end of the week, I'll find 30 minutes of inactivity in my day for at least 5 days and turn them into physically active minutes.
Reward: Go see a movie on Saturday with my best friend.
Goal No. 2: By the end of the week, I'll read two new articles about the benefits of being physically active.
Reward: Treat myself to a new package of herbal bath salts and read a magazine while soaking in the tub.
Now, create your own short-term goals:
Check Your Choices
Healthy foods make you feel better! Instead of choosing foods with little or no nutritional value, choose foods that taste good and are high in nutrition. You'll get the biggest bang for your calories, and you'll likely have more energy.
This week, replace a low-nutrition/high-calorie snack with one of the high nutrition snacks below. Choose one that you really believe you can do and add it to your week's goal. Use the nutrition facts panel and ingredients list when making food purchasing choices.
Record And Review Your Activities
Download all charts from this week
