The Five Keys to Sticking With Health Habits

So this is a topic that gets talked about so much in the health and wellness world, and I'm gonna be honest with you, all right? Habits to me are something I don't love to hear about.

There's something triggering about that word for me, and I think it's that when I am on social media and I hear people throw out these messages, right? "The best way is to increase your health habits.

Just make it a habit.

It needs to be a habit daily." That a lot of times comes with kind of this extra cheerful, right, like cheerleader motivational energy, which is great.

There's so much value to that.

The flip side is as a woman going through health changes, like constantly my whole life, right? Lots of health changes, lots of health information, feeling overwhelmed sometimes, feeling tired, feeling overextended.

The idea, like just that word, "Okay, you just have to make it a habit," feels almost like this extra duty that I just am not good at.

Like it feels like this extra added pressure or this extra to-do on my already full to-do list.

And again, that c- that's a big part of me.

I always tell people when something triggers you, you have to ask yourself what it is about you.

[chuckles] Like what are you hearing that triggers you about it? So I know this is a me thing, but as a physical therapist and a movement teacher and a women's health expert, I have worked with so many of you and talked to so many women who come to me kind of with that same thought process or that same feeling that they're failing in this idea of having health habits.

Like, "I just can't make it habit.

I just can't make it happen.

I have tried.

I can't stick with it.

I can't have consistency.

I'm not motivated.

Habits are just too hard for me." And so we're either really, really, really, like working so hard and banging our head against the wall to make habits happen, or we've kind of given up because we feel like they aren't for us.

And that's where this podcast comes in because I'm gonna add to that.

Like maybe I can just give some nuance and some foundation to that cheerleader habit energy, which again, I think we need out there [chuckles] 'cause we do need health habits.

Absolutely.

We need them.

When I talk to you about exercising regularly, lifting your weights, progressive overload, staying hydrated, eating protein, sleeping, shutting down social media at night, all the things we talk about here, they all kind of need to become a habit in our lives.

But I'm going to add a little bit to that in that I think sometimes when we think something's a habit, it means it happens automatically and we don't even think about it, and I don't think that's the case.

I think more, I want you to kind of have a mindset here around health habits That instead of something that just happens automatically, I never have to think about it again.