COVID 19 reared its ugly devastating head in many people’s lives in many different ways. One of the ways, that it affected me was gaining 20 pounds. If fact, some people jokingly called it COVID – 20 because a lot of people gained 20 pounds. I also heard a lot of people say, “I will just buy new clothes”; whereas, I said, “ I will buy a few, but I will get back into my pre-COVID 19 – clothes. Trust me it was hard because I had successfully lost close to 50 pounds from 2014 to 2016 and I was maintaining that loss.
I recently, I mean recently mustered enough strength to say, “enough is enough” and started my journey to lose inches for sure and weight if it happens. I know that I was not happy with my look and how I physically felt and it was causing problems in my confidence and esteem levels. More importantly, it was taking my energy and if you know anything about me, I have high energy.
I knew that I could not keep up the pace of managing my business, JFY Consulting, Inc, my podcast, “Girl Who Don’t You Know?!”, working a full-time government job, writing a book, leading external consultants – you name it. So, I decided to get on a journey for 21 days of getting at least 3,000 steps in a day to create a wellness habit. I then read that 21 days is for the habit and 90 days is for the habit lifestyle. I met my goal of 21 days and now as I write this blog, I am on day 45 of the 90-day journey and still have the same determination to maintain the consistency of my goal to get back in those clothes.
Here are the strategies I used, and it worked for me:
Tip #1 - Building Accountability
I decided to let my social media followers be my indirect accountability partners. I would post my steps every day for 21 days and I decided in my mind, I did not want to let them down. I added hashtags to motivate me like #meforme, #inspire, and #keepmoving. I even made up a camp name and gave it an operation name as well. I am in Camp Operation Get It Together. I used the #ogit. I would report out in military style such as “reporting out from Camp Operation Get It Together” was my beginning narrative and “Over” was my end word on most posts. Just make it fun!
Tip #2 - Take Your Time
I told myself that this was a marathon and not a sprint. Just take your time.
“The greatest wealth is health.” –Virgil.
Tip #3 - Make Your Goals Realistic
I made my step goal realistic for ME. It is easy to get 3,000 steps just by doing chores in your home or by setting your phone to tell you when to get up and move.
Stay the Course
So, these are some of the strategies, I am using to stay the course without getting frustrated and quitting. By posting, people tell me that I am an inspiration to them and maybe I have started a movement and not even know it. I do know that staying the course, no matter what, is how you reach your goals.
Talk soon,
Marilyn Green
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