Balanced Habits Life Nutrition Kick Start begins this week at Columbia Basin Racquet Club and new members came to orientation to take their first steps on a journey to health and wellness.
The new class joined food coaches and some returning members who wanted to check-in and get a refresher on the program.
One key part of the program is developing new habits while leaving unhealthy habits behind. For each week of the program, members are asked to identify a balanced habit they’re trying to develop and an unbalanced habit to overcome.
For example, a balanced habit goal could be to get more sleep. The unbalanced habit could be reducing alcohol intake. Whatever goals the goals are, Tiffany Kinney, personal trainer and food coach, reminded the group that they must be SMART:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-Based
SPECIFIC
It’s not enough to set a goal to be healthier or more physically active. If your goal is that general, then you won’t know what you’re working towards. Instead, you should specifically state what you will do, how long you will do it and when you will do it.
For example, instead of saying you want to exercise more, set a goal to walk 30 minutes every morning before work. If your goal is to lose weight, then identify the amount of weight you want to lose.
MEASURABLE
Once you have a specific goal, you can track it and measure your progress. This measurement could be something as simple as recording the time that you’re exercising or stepping on a scale every week to record your weigh.
One unique aspect of the Balanced Habits program is the Styku body composition scans at the start and end of the 28 days. This 3D body scan takes only 35 seconds and extract millions of measurements with 2mm accuracy (less than 1% error) and provides a 3D rendering of the results.
These body composition measurements calculate body fat percent with incredibly high precision. Because you will have details of not just your weight, but also your fat percentages, you can decide what’s most important.
Do you want to lose 15 pounds? Decrease your body fat so you’re no longer in an at-risk zone? With the scan, you’ll have data-informed goals and have confidence that you will be able to measure your success.
ATTAINABLE
Setting goals is key to fitness, but it’s even more important that you set goals you can actually achieve. Yes, stretch yourself, but be realistic.
An attainable goal is one that you have enough time and resources to actually achieve. If your family or work schedule doesn’t make it easy for you to work out in the morning, then setting a goal to walk 30 minutes in the morning isn’t attainable. In this case, you would need to evaluate your schedule and determine what time of day works best and how much time you can take to exercise and meet your other obligations.
RELEVANT
A key aspect of meeting a fitness goal is making sure that the goal you set means something to you. Don’t set goals that someone else wants you to obtain. First, ask yourself what’s most important to you, and then set your goals.
TIME-BASED
Giving yourself a time limit to meet your goals can keep you motivated to stay on track. The beauty of the Balanced Habits Kick Start is the time is already set. You have 28 days to begin to make progress, with weekly weigh-ins and appointments with your food coach.
Once you finish the program, you can sign up for three or six months more, or even a year. Having specific increments of time allow you to more easily set short and long-range goals.
ASSESS AND ADJUST
When it comes to fitness, you don’t have to be perfect. You just have to take small steps to be better. You can also talk to the experts at CBRC to help you assess your progress and make adjustments to your exercise routine and nutrition plan to make sure you’re working to be your best self.