How I got my life together.

For my March post, I wanted to talk about something dear to my heart- my one year anniversary of how I got my life together. I'm not talking just physically. In March of 2020 (because what better time to change my life than when the world is changing too?) I said I was going to become my best self spiritually, mentally, and physically because I truly think they all go together. If you're looking for some realistic tips and tricks that I've learned over the last year as an average 19-20 year old, keep reading!

1) Figure out the WHY

If your reason why you want to get fit or be more spiritual is because you want to look like a specific influencer or you want other people to look at you the way everyone looks at that one girl that is on fire for Jesus, your goals aren't going to last. A personal goal is for you, not other people. When I first thought of my goals they were along the lines of this:

1) I want to look my best and whatever that is for my body is okay.

2) I want to find confidence in myself, not other people's compliments.

3) I want to read the Bible because it connects me to Jesus.

2) Silly, but invest in cute workout clothes.

This seriously will motivate you to workout more and eat healthier. If I'm in a brand new set from fabletics, I'm going to want to eat something healthy for lunch and not the usual bagel bites. My favorite athletic brands are fabletics, aerie, and for workout accessories, I have been loving workout scrunchies from ANDi!

3) Most of your fitness knowledge may be skewed.

I am a nerd and I have read a lot of books and watched videos all on nutrition and fitness, but I am no professional so please do research for your own body. But a few parts of my life that I have drastically changed that would have made myself 2 years ago cringe is below:

1) I went from 1,100 calories a day to a goal of 1,800 calories per day (and progressively reaching more). I promise you, if you want muscle (aka a booty and toned body) you need to eat a lot more calories than 1,000. Figure out what's healthy for YOU! My favorite healthy foods that progressively gave me more calories are peanut butter, avocados, and eggs.

4) Find your drive.

Studies show that most people will hold their motivation for healthy living for about 2 weeks and then regress back to old habits. BUT, if we get past that 3 week mark, we are 80% more likely to stick with it and never stop. Finding my drive to a healthy life was giving myself a routine, waking up early (I'm not talking 5 am, more like 8 am instead of 10), saving the coffee for later, and most importantly starting the day with God. I used to think that was the most basic advice and left my Bible time to 11:30 at night as the last thing on my "list", but when I start my days with God there's no denying that those days are 10x better than the others. Caring for my spiritual health then overflows into motivation for physical and mental health.

5) "I don't want to be skinny. I want to be strong".

I first said this to myself when I was ready to just be healthy. What I mean by this is stop excessively weighing yourself, counting every piece of spinach, and let your body naturally do what we're supposed to do when we build muscle. It's okay to eat more calories than you ever have if you are lifting like never before. While your body is gaining more muscle, it naturally contours to a healthy looking physique, which looks a lot healthier to me.

I hope you found some encouragement and ideas on how to incorporate healthy habits into your life. My biggest lesson I learned was that all three (physical, mental, and spiritual health) are all related and we need to take care of all three!

Give yourself grace, you're doing amazing.

Dani