Today’s guest blog post comes from Franchesca Calhoun: Christian, Newlywed, Social Worker, Lifestyle Coach, Texan and Seeker of a Well-balanced Life

Happy Fitness Fridays Y’all! Thankful to my friend Sabrina for letting me spend a few moments with you and share some of my top tips to creating the foundation for a healthy lifestyle.

How many of you have started and failed a “diet” plan? I know I have—too many times for me to even count! Looking at my lifestyle now, you might have a hard time imagining that.

So what changed? Below I am going to share with you three tips that have helped me create a MINDSET shift in my health and fitness.

Let’s get to it!

  • Tip #1: This is a JOURNEY—not a marathon and not a sprint.
    You know the saying “it’s a marathon, not a sprint!” well it doesn’t apply here.
    The concept of a marathon implies that at some point what you are doing now will end and it will be over. When your goal is a lifestyle change, there is no end to that! You are establishing a new constant way to live your life. You are always evolving, always improving and always changing your goals, but there is not end to your lifestyle. This is such an important shift for people to make to really get them out of that diet cycle and into the mindset of a true lifestyle change. Are you living a journey or running a marathon?
  • Tip #2: Be REALISTIC with your goals.
    All too often, people want drastic and immediate changes so they set up big lofty goals that they simply cannot achieve in a healthy way. If you have made the shift and now see your health and fitness as a journey, you can set up smaller and more attainable goals for yourself that will inevitably get you to your big lofty goal. Your goals should also be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.
    For example: Every day (specific) I am going to drink 60 oz (measurable, attainable and realistic) of water for 21 days (timely). You have now created a realistic goal for yourself that, over the course of 21 days, will create better and healthier habits that will ultimately turn into lifetime habits.
  • Tip #3: Be KIND to yourself.
    This is by far the most important tip I can give any of you. The things that we say to ourselves and in our head, we would probably NEVER say to anyone else we love. Why do we say it to ourselves? In order to be successful and truly create a healthy lifestyle, we have to remember to show ourselves some self-compassion and love. We aren’t perfect and we are never going to be. This is a JOURNEY and it will be full of ups and downs and in order to find that inner strength to get back up and keep pushing, we need a little love.

“To love yourself is to understand that you don’t need to be perfect to be good.”

More on Franchesca Calhoun
For the vast majority of my adolescent and young adult life, I was an athlete. Post college I realized how much of my health I was taking for granted by never having to really think about exercising or eating well. After several years of yoyo plans and expensive personal trainers, I could not maintain a health weight and getting to a very low place in my life. I decided to make a lifestyle change and take my health back.

In 2013, I was introduced to an online fitness community full of positive women who encouraged me and supported me in such a crucial way. At the beginning of this year, I took what had become a growing passion, and turned it into a part-time job that I aspire to become a full-time career. Lifestyle and health coaching bring me joy and inspiration each and every day! I am grateful and blessed by all the people who allow me to enter their lives and help them take their health back just like I did.

My motto is never perfection, but always progress and balance; balance of mind, heart, body and soul.

For more tips you can like my Facebook page “Franchesca Calhoun”or follow me on Instagram @franchesca_cal.

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