Author: Healthi Coach, Brianna Newton
If you've chosen to give Healthi a try, YAY YOU! I wish you all the success in the world!
Here are my top 10 tips to help you experience the greatest success and make it as easy as possible.
1. Before you jump into tracking your food, download Healthi and walk around your house (or the grocery store) scanning EVERYTHING. Save the scanned foods to your app in case you need to track them later. This will save you a ton of time down the road.
2. Choose the day you will start tracking. It doesn't have to be today but don't put it off too long. Make sure it's not a day you will be abnormally busy (if that exists?). Ok, maybe just don't make it a day when you'll be traveling with an infant and you have three connecting flights, deal?
3. Stock up on plenty of lean proteins and fresh vegetables as your base for healthy meals. Think ahead for healthy snacks and have things like hard boiled eggs or carrots and hummus ready to go.
4. On your first day, weigh yourself in the morning before you eat breakfast to get a baseline and enter your weight on the app. Also on your first day tracking, eat as you normally would in terms of your habits and portions. Track as honestly and accurately as possible. This will help you learn what needs to change and what doesn't need to change. You'll start to become familiar with what portion sizes are right for you. I highly recommend purchasing a food scale, especially for measuring things like meats and cheeses. Ease into it!
5. Find another like-minded individual to go on this journey with. The Healthi community groups on Facebook and in the app are an excellent resource! Having a safe space to share your experience makes you more likely to stick with it.
6. Drink PLENTY of water! Staying hydrated has many benefits but one benefit of drinking water prior to eating is that it helps curb your appetite.
7.Have a plan. Even if it's a loose plan! Your house is now stocked up on lean proteins, veggies, fruits, and healthy snack options.
8. Make a quick note on whatever paper you can find to write on and list some meal ideas. Having any kind of plan in place will automatically make you more successful.
9. Go into this knowing that you can absolutely have enough self control to make the right choices. You may need to continually remind yourself of your goal in order to conquer your habits. Are you trying to lose weight? Have more energy to run after your kiddos? Your goal is worth it. Remind yourself of your WHY!
10. Most importantly, show yourself grace. Your personal health journey isn't meant to be a perfect journey. Giving up all of the foods you love will not make this sustainable for you so you have to embrace the occasional indulgence not as a failure, but just as part of the process. The beauty of using an Healthi plan is that you can plan for the foods you love. For me, there isn't any amount of money in the world you could pay me to give up my hazelnut creamer in the morning. I plan for it, I track it, and I move on! You'll learn what is worth it and what isn't.
Your mindset going into this means everything. If you go in demanding perfection of yourself, you will most likely come up short. We are not made for that level of expectation! Allow yourself the room to still be you, to still have that glass of wine at night, to still go out with your friends and enjoy that queso with chips. That is the key to sustainability and sustainability equals long term success. After all, what's life without queso anyway?