Are you just starting out on a wellness journey? Maybe you’re trying to get in better shape or lose weight? Well if this sounds like you then today’s post is just what you need to read! I mapped out 3 steps you can take to get started right now! The best part about it is you can use these steps for whatever route you plan to take! Starting this journey can definitely feel overwhelming, especially in the beginning so I wanted to help you get started in a way that is less stressful!

It Starts With Your Mindset

You may not have seen this one coming but this journey you are on all starts with your mindset. It doesn’t start with the perfect diet or the routine your best friend uses. It also doesn’t start with you researching different diets for weeks on end because you are looking for the one that will fit you the best. It starts by ditching the unrealistic expectations you may have about losing weight. Each day we are set in front of tons and tons of ads promising quick results if you use their specific products or methods and the problem with these ads is they all promise the results to be quick!

When you set out to lose weight you have to understand that it isn’t going to be quick. It’s going to be, most likely, a lot slower than you are expecting. I’m not saying that to be discouraging, I’m saying it because I believe in giving you the straight truth here. I’m not sitting here writing all of this because I want you to just follow along, I genuinely want to give you the best advice I can and because that is how I feel, I have to be honest with you here. Weight loss is slow and sometimes you are going to feel like you are busting your ass only to get on the scale for it to go up and that is going to be discouraging and I totally get it.

I believe this journey starts with our mindset because if we go into this with the expectations that this is going to be quick, and then it isn’t, we feel like we are doing something wrong or failing when in reality that isn’t the case. I want you to start this process knowing that there are going to be ups and downs and it is all a normal part of weight loss!

One Change

Your next go to instinct might be to completely change every single eating habit you have all at once. I know this seems tempting and it makes perfect sense on paper but the problem here is your life isn’t lived on paper and making a huge change all at once is extremely overwhelming and typically leads to you giving up. If you think I’m being negative again, I want you to think about how many times you have drastically changed your diet in one day. Can you think back to those times? How many times have they lasted and been long term changes…

I’m guessing since you’re reading this you haven’t seen the long term success you were hoping for. Now friends, I was the exact same way! I made huge changes, stuck with them for a while, lost weight, fell back into hold habits and started the damn cycle all over again until I started making smaller changes and building on it!

If you are just starting out choose 1 or 2 things to focus on first. Maybe it will be to make sure you drink enough water and you add a vegetable to each of your meals. Once you’ve got that down and it isn’t a hard adjustment anymore than you add in something else like, prioritizing lean proteins at your meals and you keep adding slowly. This makes it so you are only focused on one change at a time, seems a lot less overwhelming right?

Keep Showing Up

I’m here to surprise you again with my 3rd step. This one's for you to commit to showing back up. We talked about our expectations earlier in this post and we are quickly revisiting them here. You are going to have times when your diet plan doesn’t go as you wanted. You are going to overeat the ice cream or have that extra glass of wine at dinner (all fine btw!).

You just need to be committed to showing up again even after you FEEL like you failed or you cheated (I’m not saying you did lol). The commitment to keep showing up is a key to your success because it is what is going to keep you going! Embrace the hard times, accept that they will pass, and that you will get back on track. Know that one meal or one choice will not derail all your progress, heck a whole week at an all inclusive resort eating and drinking whatever you want will not derail all your progress. Just commit to showing back up again!

Starting any new journey can be overwhelming. I totally get that feeling because you want it to go right. You have this goal and you want nothing more than to accomplish it, and I have the same feeling for you! I want you to accomplish your goal also which is why I wanted to share these 3 tips for starting out with you!