30 Day Challenge

I love 30 day challenges, and I believe they are one of the most valuable tools to achieving success. As a personal trainer, I always encourage clients to take my 30 day nutritional challenge. In a nut shell this challenge eliminates crappy processed foods and the emphasis is on high quality nutrient dense foods. Every single one of my clients who has taken this 30 day challenge has lost a considerable amount of weight, in fact, it has been so successful that I have even put a guarantee on it ‘Lose 7 pounds of fat in 30 days or 100% of your money back no questions asked’. To this day I have never had to give a single penny back.

So what is it about a 30 day challenge that works so well?
Commitment – The act of commitment to a challenge and setting measurable goals is enough to make a huge change and be successful. 30 days is a short enough time that you don’t feel overwhelmed by the task in hand.

Habit – 30 days is also a long enough time to create good habits for yourself. By doing something every day for 30 days, you are reprogramming your brain to create the habit. Think about it this way, when you were learning to drive a car you had to think about every single action you had to perform. Check the mirror, break, left foot down on the clutch, change gear, bring the clutch up, gently accelerate and finally check the mirror again. Now if you have been driving for a while you will know that it has just become a habit, you don’t have to think about any of the actions anymore as they just come to you naturally.

I remember when I gave up bread for 30 days, it was tough. For the first couple of weeks all I could think about were sandwiches but every day I consciously made the decision not to eat the stuff. After 30 days I wasn’t even thinking about bread anymore and still to this day I don’t crave bread.
Here are some guidelines for choosing a 30 day challenge
Choose a goal that is not too difficult – Be realistic with yourself, what is actually achievable. If you want to lose weight and you commit to exercising every day for 90 minutes then that’s not going to work. You will get tired, achy and not to mention bored! A better goal would be to do 20 minutes every day, it is much more realistic.

Make sure it is measurable – You will find it a lot easier if you can make a goal which is measurable. I will take ONE picture every day for 30 days or I will do 100 push ups every day for 30 days is mentally going to be more achievable tha
I will exercise ever day

Do it every day without fail – By working on your challenge every day it will be at the forefront of your mind and therefore you will be more conscious of what it is you’re doing and trying to achieve

Take this time now to think of an area in your life that you would like to improve and set a 30 day goal. Good luck and happy habit making.