2 Fundamentals For Success On A Health Journey
Most people in their 40s, 50s and 60s, in their midlife and beyond, are trying to improve their health in some way. With midlife years often comes weight gain, expanding waistline, low energy, hair & skin conditions, gut issues or a medical diagnosis like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and others.
Most people try to address their health concerns but fail to get the answers they want. Exercise is just not enough. More often than ever before, people are turning to weight loss drugs, supplements, packaged meal programs, or the latest diet fad.
This usually turns into a vicious cycle of frustration and elusive or waning results.
What’s happening is that as we age, we can’t ‘get away’ with unhealthy lifestyle practices anymore. Not that living unhealthfully as a youngster was considered a good thing, but years later, it catches up to us.
The answer isn’t in a miracle product, fad diet, or drugs.
The first line of defense is diet & lifestyle. We are seeing that in news headlines more everyday - preventing and fighting disease with active, whole food, healthy living.
The weight loss industry is soaring. The U.S. weight loss market is now worth $90 billion (Marketdata Enterprises, March 2024), and drugs to combat obesity like Wegovy and Ozempic are skyrocketing.
When diet and lifestyle efforts fail, for whatever reason, people often self-blame and turn to medical interventions.
It’s understandable to want to reach for miracle supplements or medical drugs when you’ve tried and it didn’t work out.
What happened?
Two things.
Unless there’s an anchor keeping you grounded on your health journey decision-making, you don’t have a reason to consistently drive your choices and actions. (Reason #1 below)
You’re using the wrong tools for the job (Reason #2 below)
Let me explain:
Reason 1: You need a Long-Range WHY
This is the question I START any new coach-client relationship with, and one I often come back to with my coaching clients: What is your long-term ‘why’ for living healthfully?
In coaching sessions, we can get down the road with all kinds of great information, ideas, goals and plans, but without a foundation, a ‘true north,’ something that guides every action, it’s easy to get off track, lose progress, or go back to old ways.
That’s so frustrating.
What is your WHY” for being healthy? Here are common WHYs:
To spend quality time with family
To be successful in career
To share life with friends
To be happy
To feel good every day
To participate in favorite hobbies
To keep independence
______________ (<enter yours here)
Today, think about what your WHY is, your reason, to be healthy. What drives you?
Use that to motivate you to live well - starting TODAY.
What kind of WHY leads to lasting health?
1) A WHY to a long healthy life isn’t a short term reason like for a wedding, trip, reunion or special event.
It’s highly motivating to have a wedding on the horizon and want to look good in front of everyone in your mother-of-the-bride gown.
Instead, a WHY to a long healthy life has a long-range view, like:
>Where do you want to be in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years? With whom? Doing what?
>How do you want to feel in a month, next year, when you’re __ years old?
>Picture yourself in 1 year, when you retire, ____ (<enter what’s important to you)… What do you want your life look like? (ie: no meds, living in your dream house, volunteering on restoration mission trips…)
Now, why is your long-range WHY important to you and how will you get there?
2) A WHY to a long healthy life isn’t the YOLO (you only live once) ‘live hard’ kind of reason.
Sure, playing hard, being social and doing big stuff is fun.
But are those things serving your health?
If not, then maybe some it’s time to make important changes in your life.
Take Action
Everyone is paving a path to wellness, or illness.
How will you pave your path? Is it toward wellness or illness?
Every bite you take is a brick on that path.
>Use your long-range WHY to motivate your food choices & lifestyle habits. Those are the bricks on your path to wellness.
Reason 2: You need a Target then a framework to follow
Get a target, Take aim
You have your WHY in mind now. Great!
Next think about where you want to go with your health. What is your end goal? That’s your target.
Do you want to lose weight? How much?
Do you want to get off medications? Which ones?
Do you want to improve mobility, maintain independent living, be able to walk around the park or play pickle ball?
Now, HOW are you going to get there?
Follow a structure
Most people who fail at reaching their health goals don’t use a framework, or they use the wrong one.
If we don’t use a framework, a structure, a plan, a map, then we’re a paper airplane wandering aimlessly on wind current, hoping to reach the destination.
Use the right tool
If we use the wrong framework for our health goals, then we likely won’t reach them.
We can use a ladder to get to the top of a wall, but if we’re using the wrong kind, or it’s too short, we may not reach it.
We can try to put together a piece of furniture, but if we don’t use an instruction manual, we may not succeed or it will take A LOT longer.
We can go on a roadtrip, but without a roadmap or Waze telling us where to turn, we may not ever get there.
Closing Thoughts
Your health is your wealth.
Healthy aging doesn’t have to be a mystery or a series of failed attempts.
Ground yourself in your long-range WHY and use it as the reason behind every diet & lifestyle decision to help you enjoy a longer, healthier life.
Don’t get stuck in the deep pit of input overload, wandering about by yourself. There’s all sorts of information to learn from the internet, friends or books, but with the right kind of structured framework to follow it’s easier & more likely to reach your destination.
Your WHY is your reason.
Your WHERE is your target.
Your HOW is the framework to follow.
Ask yourself:
✶ How can you make changes today to live well & enjoy your WHYs in life?
✶ What are you willing to do today to make that happen reliably?
✶ What framework will help you reach your health goals?
Don't waste your time, money & effort on things that don’t work.
Instead, start today in making the meaningful diet & lifestyle changes that will help you enjoy good health for a long time to come.