Creating a plan is a helpful step along your health journey, but what can you do if you find yourself struggling with your plan?
First, it’s helpful to figure out why you’re having trouble with your plan. Consider evaluating the following:
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Is your plan too difficult or too easy? If so, try being open to changing your plan. Challenge yourself a bit more if it feels too easy and scale back if things are feeling too difficult. Studies show re-evaluating your plan every 4 to 6 weeks can help to keep you accountable.
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Have you allotted the right amount of time to your plan? If you don’t have enough time to dedicate to your plan, try and evaluate if there are areas where you can carve out some additional time. For example, if you need to find time to prep healthy food for the week, try cutting up some fruits or vegetables during commercial breaks for your favorite tv show.
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Are you taking an all or nothing approach? All or nothing approaches can be tough, which is a reason why we like the SMART goals framework because it focuses on setting attainable goals. If you’re struggling with an all or nothing approach for a plan you’ve created, take some time to evaluate how you can readjust the plan to make it more realistic. For example, if your goal is to workout 5 days a week when you haven't been exercising at all, that might be too much too soon. You could try readjusting your goal to exercise 2-3 days a week instead.
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Do you have the right resources? Part of having a great plan is ensuring you’ve considered what resources you’ll need. If you’re struggling with your plan because you don’t have access to the right resources, try getting creative. For example, if you built a plan around working out at the gym, but don’t have access to your gym membership anymore, try and find safe at home workouts you can complete instead.