90 Day Challenge: How I’m Using the Next 90 Days to Change Some Bad Habits In Favor of a Whole New Lifestyle

A friend and I were talking the other day about how we were “doing” WW (Weight Watchers), but that we felt like we needed more motivation. In truth, I’ve been doing little more than paying for the service. Ugh! So, I suggested that we should be accountability partners and that felt like a great step for both of us. However, the next morning, I decided I needed even more motivation. We came up with the idea to invite our family and friends to a Biggest Loser style competition where we all focus on healthy lifestyle changes–eating a balanced diet and exercising–and the top three people who lose the greatest percentage of body weight win a cash prize. The idea is that doing weekly weigh ins, competing with loved ones, sharing our progress in community would motivate us all and help us stay committed.

Now, “they” say that it takes roughly 3 weeks to form a habit, and 90 days a new lifestyle. To me this means that in a short amount of time you can form a new habit, something you’ll keep up with for a while until obstacles arise. However, in order to truly change how your mind works around a specific topic, thus making a habit a part of your regular lifestyle, part of who you are, you need to stick with it for 90 days. It really makes sense to me, so we started our 90-day challenge on Sunday and it will end May 30th.

Now, there are a few bad habits that I’m looking to break and change into an entirely new lifestyle. And these habits as well as the strategies I’m employing to change them are things that I’ve been thinking about for a long while.

I’ll be sharing more about why I chose these goals and strategies in the coming weeks for anyone interested in information about, for example, intermittent fasting. But for now, here are 3 bad habits I’m going to break over the next 90 days!

1. EXERCISE: 100% transparency, I do not exercise. I mean, really almost never and rarely on purpose haha. My job is completely sedentary and I work from home. So, my commute is walking across the living room. So, not only do I need to learn how to add working out into my day, I need to figure out how to move more throughout the day. I’m aiming to work up to 10,000 steps a day. Hopefully, within 30 days, I’ll be hitting that number pretty regularly. My Apple Watch, Beach Body On Demand, and walks outside are some of my strategies for achieving this goal.
2. HYDRATION: I do not get enough water. Never have. My husband jokes that I’m the only person he knows who will routinely sit down to a meal without a drink and think nothing of it. Thankfully, I don’t drink much soda, I don’t really drink juice, and I’m not really drinking much alcohol these days. Still, I just don’t drink anything at all some days. I know the importance of it for your health, so I’m making this one of my habits to break. Rachel Hollis, who hosted a Last 90 Days Challenge at the end of 2019 had one of her goals to drink half her body weight in water EVERY DAY (in ounces, of course). Well, I’m not brave enough yet to tell you how much water I’ll be drinking, but I know how much it is and how I’m going to there. I got a water bottle that literally says “Drink Your Effing Water” on the side. It will be coming with me everywhere.
3. NUTRITION: One reason drinking water is so important is that when you are dehydrated, your body can mistake thirst signals for hunger signals. This brings me to habit number 3–fixing my diet. One thing I know is that I’m not making my health a priority when it comes to my diet. Some days, all I eat is one meal. Others, I mostly just snack all day. And you can bet I’m not snacking on celery sticks and almond butter, right? So under the diet category is eating regularly, on a schedule. I’m going to be working in SOME aspects of Keto (not full time, because I believe it can be very dangerous) and Intermittent Fasting (IF) as well as tracking everything in the good ‘ole WW app.