How to “Anchor” Healthy Habits Now

Hey Friends!  My friend Cassie of HabitudeFitness has some encouraging and helpful thoughts to share on what it means to “Anchor Healthy Habits”, and how we can do that, especially now.  Cassie is a personal trainer, fitness instructor, and a Skinny Friends grad!  She and I have teamed up to host the 3-Week Jumpstart Facebook group for the last two years and I love her heart and work. (She was also on Episode 41 of the Boy Mom Podcast talking about Diets, Freedom, and Being a “Naturally Skinny” Mom.)  

Here’s Cassie’s encouragement — hope you enjoy! 

It’s been a few weeks now of COVID-19 making its way through our news channels, feeds, grocery stores, and homes. So many of us are having to adjust our life in big and small ways in order to slow down the spread of this virus. Amidst such a time of stress, uncertainty, new routines, and trying to stay well and keep others well, I still believe it’s anything but selfish to think about your health and wellness. The key to all this is being able to let go of expectations and just make it work the best you can given your current environment, resources, and circumstance!! So what does that mean for your fitness and nutrition?

Habit Anchors:  Each and every one of our habits (good and not so good!) are tied to a trigger or something that anchors it. Perhaps you normally would wake up early and get a workout in before work, shower at the gym, and then head into the office. Or what if you always drop the kids off and then head to the studio for a sweat session? Without that anchor of needing to wake up early before the office or dropping the kids off, those exercise habits can be really difficult to get in all of a sudden. Although many of us are trying to create new and manageable routines and structure, the very fact that it’s different (even if it’s good) can disrupt your habits and make it really hard to accomplish your daily goals.

With all that said, it’s time to play around with some new routines and anchor some good habits to some new habit triggers!!! 

1st:  Write it down!
Go ahead and grab a scratch of paper and a pen and write down some of your healthy habits that you’re struggling to get done these days. What were they anchored to in the past? What can you try to anchor them to given your new routine and situation? This might take more than creating a list, you’re going to have to play around and make adjustments as needed!

How and Why to Make Fitness and Movement a Priority During This Time:

I am not going to list all the current situations and reasons why this may be hard right now. You probably already know why it’s hard. Work demands, sharing bandwidth with your spouse, entertaining, teaching, cold Spring weather, and managing children right now…the list goes on. 

Here is a link to a few online resources that you can stream from your phone, tablet, laptop, or TV. So many companies are operating out of compassion right now and offering free 30, 60, and 90 day memberships. Take advantage of these amazing deals and professionals! Using social media to stay connected and accountable is so fun and motivating, so go ahead and create an account and have some fun with all this!

The studio where I work pulled together some amazing zoom classes last week and will continue to do live classes daily and post them on You Tube for later use. My studio owner is also posting WOD (workout of the day), every day on social and in email. Many of your own local studios and gyms are doing the same and offering classes on the online platforms. There really are so many options. In my opinion, letting go of expectations and perfection, and simply just moving will keep you healthy and coming out of this even stronger!!

How and Why You should Prioritize Healthy Eats During this Time:

I don’t know about you, but when I’m home all day I make a lot more trips to the refrigerator! I’m not even hungry, and I open the door and just look around! What am I looking for anyways…not much has changed in the last hour, lol! My point here is that there’s a lot of stress and change going on, and that can definitely change our eating habits. (Especially if you’ve ever struggled with any kind of emotional eating!) If you think you’re overeating or eating foods that may not be serving you well, let’s just acknowledge that this can be a totally natural human response to all that’s going on.  As a Skinny Friend, I just want to encourage you that this is just the beginning and we are all adjusting! So if you aren’t too proud of your recent choices to eat more and move less over the last while, it’s OK!!! YES, IT’S OK!! This is a time where we need to practice extra compassion and grace…even with ourselves.

However, we do need to begin to adjust to this temporary new normal and find some healthy boundaries, or we won’t be too happy with our bodies and minds when we get through this. I say this not because we should be afraid of gaining weight, but because we really do need to TAKE CARE of ourselves. I think this means that we need to eat healthy foods that are available given our resources and circumstances, absolutely! But it may also mean that you indulge in supporting a local small business once a week by doing a curbside pick up, baking with the kids, or making some homemade pizzas, a blanket fort, and watching Frozen 2…again…:) (Or was that just me?:)

As Monica has reminded us recently, we get to decide how to ride this out.
Try to create a loose plan that serves your health, mind, heart, and body well. Practice healthy habits tied to new anchors and exercise lots of grace! Let’s stay in touch!!

Just for fun, try this Easy Home Workout idea: 
This works. This adds up. This delivers results. This gets you off of your booty!

The All Day Challenge Workout

Here’s how:

1. Open the calendar in your phone.
2. Pick at least two days a week and schedule in the All Day Challenge.
3. On the days this pops up, set the alarm on your phone to go off every hour, on the hour, all day long.
4. When that alarm goes off, do something!

10 squats

10 lunges

10 push-ups

10 jumping jacks

Keep your little hand weights out and do 10 bicep curls or shoulder presses

Walk around, inside or out…

The list goes on…

By the end of the day you have accomplished SO much without hardly any extraeffort! You will love the way this makes you feel, and it works!  Snap a photo and put it in your stories, and be sure to tag @healthyhappyandfreeand @habitudefitnesson Instagram!  

Thanks for playing and take care of yourselves!

XO
Cassie