Holiday Honey Hustle Challenge Week 1 + 5 Ways to Stay Motivated to Eat Healthy & Workout This Holiday Season

I’m so excited that this year’s Holiday workout challenge, the Holiday Honey Hustle has started! 

We have been planning this for months, and I’m so glad it’s here.  Believe me, I NEED the motivation and accountability myself!  With work, Leighton and the holiday schedules already getting crazy, I feel like I’m running on empty and working out and eating healthy got pushed to the side for too long.  We actually started a Holiday Workout Challenge at work at few weeks ago too, so this is the perfect time to start.  NOW!  = )

I am teaming up with Heather from My Life Well Loved and Jessica from Happily Hughes for this Holiday workout challenge.  You might remember some of our other challenges last year (you can find all my fitness posts here.)  I know that starting to workout or eat healthy can be so hard anytime.  And it’s even harder to keep it up, especially during the holiday season.  So…I’m going to share 5 ways to help keep you motivated during these next couple months and make sure you check out today’s ab work below!

5 Ways to Stay Motivated for this Holiday Workout Challenge

1.)  Get rid of your biggest temptations.  All that Halloween candy in the panty, give it away, take it to work or throw it out.  I took mine to work and left it there for someone who may want it.  If it’s at your house, it’s so much easier to have a moment of weakness.  With that being said, a moment of weakness is not the end all to eating healthy.  Start over…immediately.  It’s never too late.  Acknowledge that you ate half that bag of candy and move on.  Honestly after eating something that isn’t good for me, I usually end up feeling sick to my stomach and realize it wasn’t even worth it!

2.)  Stay accountable.  That’s why we have this Facebook group.  There are over 1,400 women in the group who are doing the exact same thing as me…and you.  They want to stay accountable, and they will help you also.  We are posting workouts, recipes and other motivational things everyday, so know that you have plenty of other people doing the same thing.  It’s kind of like having a workout buddy…which I highly recommend.  We have at least 20 people in this challenge at work, so I have them.  I have this group.  I have my friends on the Nike app that I do running challenges with.  I also just got my first FitBit that keeps me motivated and tells me when I need to get moving!  Use these different things to help keep you accountable too!

3.)  Plan out your meals.  I know we are all busy, so if you can’t plan them out for a full 7 days, I completely get that.  But, at least think ahead.  If you know you’re traveling one day, think what you want to eat and pack some healthy snacks and water.  Or plan which restaurants you will stop at on the drive and what you can get there that is healthy.  Do the same thing for all those holiday parties or nights out that may be coming up.  Think about bringing your own dish to the party, something that is moderately healthy.  What about kabobs or a bean dip with kale chips??  Or if that’s too out there for the guests, take something middle of the road that at least is a HEALTHIER option.  Making better choices is better than doing nothing.

4.)  Keep a food diary.  It’s so easy these days with cell phones.  Add it in your notes on your phone, use an app to track it, write it down or even just take a picture of it.  It will make it easy to see where you went wrong or if you plateau, and it will also keep you accountable.  Nobody wants to look back at a picture of a bag of Halloween candy and think yeah, I ate that by myself.  = )

5.)  Get moving.  We’re all going to be crazy busy this holiday season, but get in workouts or runs whenever you can.  Even if it’s only 5 minutes.  Go for a run on your lunch break.  Do planks when you wake up in the morning.  Or after those holiday lunches?  Let your meal settle, and then ask the entire family to go for a walk if the weather is nice outside.  We have done this several times, and it’s actually one of my favorite things to do at my grandma’s house after we eat.  We all go for a walk if it’s nice outside.

Whatever you do, remember that doing something is better than nothing.  If you feel like you have messed up one day, don’t give up on this Holiday workout challenge!

There is no one particular size or weight out there that is right.  Being healthy to me means staying active, eating healthy foods that make me feel good and drinking plenty of water.  Whether you’re goal is to lose weight, stay the same or even just to make better healthy eating choices or get active again, the best thing to do is to just start now.  I hope these tips to stay motivated will help you, and make sure that you join the Facebook group.  We will also be having some fun giveaways in the group.  If you have any tips, leave them below too.  = )

Day 1: 20 second plank

Day 2: Two 20 second planks with 10 second rest in between

Day 3: 30 second plank

Day 4: Two 30 second planks

Day 5: 40 second plank

Day 6: Two 40 second planks

Day 7: 60 second plank

Ready to start this Holiday workout challenge?!