Welcome to our December 2020 Healthy Habit Cycle where we define the theme for the month, then refine a few habits that align with the stated mission with EXCELEVATE Academy, which is to help you feel vibrant in body and mind so you can live and lead with confidence. Every month we do this with simple challenges for nutrition, fitness, motivation, mindset, and fun.
December is a good time to hibernate, thus the theme for this month is Rest & Restoration.
Let’s recap what we’ve done so far this year:
APRIL (nutrition): meal planning & prep
MAY (fitness): 3 miles OR 30 minutes of exercise in the mode that works best for you
JUNE (nutrition): macro training on proteins, carbs, fats with a serving of veggies at EACH meal
JULY (fitness): maintain the 30 minutes of daily exercise, plus a wildcard habit of your choice
AUGUST (mindset): stress resilience
SEPTEMBER (nutrition): #SeptemberSlowDown with the eat slowly to satisfied, not stuffed, chewing each bite 20+ times
OCTOBER (nutrition/mindset): we avoided alcohol (or soda, TV, media, etc) with #SoberOctober
NOVEMBER (lifestyle, nutrition, fitness): daily gratitude (5 things you appreciate each day); daily vitamins; daily ab workout challenge
As we consider what it means to hibernate in the winter, and as we consider what rest means for restoration in a month that closes out the year and celebrates family, this month’s lifestyle habit piggy backs on our November gratitude habit. In keeping up with your gratitude, we’ll be focusing our meditations, prayer, journaling, reflections – whatever you want to call it – on looking back so we can look forward. I have some exercises this month that will look back over the last year, what it taught us about ourselves, what evidence we’ve gathered about our strengths, and what that can tell us about expectations, goals, and dreams we can stretch into the next year.
That’s the lifestyle habit which will be our primary focus for the month. And because it’s also a month of what can easily be defined as indulgence with food around Christmas, Hanukkah, and other cozy holidays, I don’t want to impose any nutrition habits here that might restrict your joy around the dinner table, so we’re doubling down again on the supplements this month. You established the habit last month, and we’re maintaining that this month again because supplements – as the name implies – help fill nutritional gaps that can get compromised with subtle shifts in our standard habits around meals. And if you need fresh vitamins, let’s chat because there are a few brands I’ve identified that are far and away better than others that you can get off the shelf at the grocery store. I’ll be talking more about supplement integrity in the coming weeks because if we’re going to use supplements and vitamins to fill nutritional gaps, you want to have the most bioavailable vitamin you can get with high integrity. Again, it’s just there to fill a gap, but it’s also a typically easy thing to accomplish in a month when we tend to have so much going on.
And lastly for the fitness habit this month, in keeping with the rest & restoration that comes with hibernation, we’re focusing on sleep. Now, I’ll leave this a bit open to interpretation for you. But I want you to consider one tiny tweak to your sleep hygiene. That could mean going to bed 15 minutes earlier. It could mean charging your phone in a different room to cut down on a late-night screen scrolling habit. It could mean reading a book made of paper before you go to bed, again to cut down on screen time.
So just to quickly recap here, our primary habit goal this month is to follow the journal prompts for reflection on the past year, looking back so we can look forward in an intentional way. The secondary healthy habits are the sleep challenge and to take your vitamins, and if you need to figure out what vitamins and supplements are best for you – if any at all – send me a message and we can figure it out pretty quickly.
And if you aren’t already a member of the Habit Cycle, click the link below so you can join the membership which opens up the workout library, the coaching library, a monthly recipe and meal plan pack, and a coaching call to get you set up for success, especially as we navigate the end of the year and look forward to next year. All of these tools take the guesswork out of prep work and get you set up for success and help you hold yourself accountable to your goals and dreams in the months and years ahead.
If you’re new to the Habit Cycle, you’re welcome to follow along with this month’s Habit Cycle in our FREE group. And of course you can join the membership at any time for access to the app, worksheets, and additional coaching.
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