How many of you made a health-related resolutions for the new year?  According to ABC News, the #2 New Year’s Resolution for 2016 is “Live a Healthier Lifestyle.” Nobody is going to say no if you ask them if they want to be healthier.  It’s the getting there part that’s hard.

The problem is, people start out the new year with all of these big intentions, and by March they are forgotten.  How can you make healthy resolutions that stick?  Here are my suggestions:

1. Be specific with what you want to do.  “Be healthier” isn’t as useful as “Start an exercise program.”

2. Break your goals into manageable parts.  Tackling one healthy living goal at a time is more realistic than trying to overhaul your entire lifestyle at once.

3. Find someone who will help you with accountability.  It can be your spouse, your BFF, or your mom.  Just tell someone what your intentions are so that person can check up with your progress.

4.  Have support.  This goes hand in hand with #3, but takes it a step further. Find a group of people who are working towards similar health goals.  You’re more likely to stick with those resolutions if you are working towards them with a group of like-minded individuals.

Guess what?  I can help you with all four of these! I have healthy resolutions just like everybody else.  I consider myself a healthy person, but I never want to be complacent and think it’s important to continuously work towards my best health.  So I decided that a great way to help myself and my readers work towards healthy goals all year long would be to do it together!

Introducing the Happy Healthy Mama Healthy Year Challenge! 

Every month, I will introduce a challenge for the month that will help us work on some aspect of our health.  We will do it together.  I will provide motivation and information and you all will make up the community that provides the all-important support aspect.  We will be each other’s accountability partners.  Each month, it will be something new that will help us continue to focus on our health all year.  Are you in?

How do you join?  This is a free challenge that’s open to everyone.  You can do one month or all the months. We will follow and support each other’s progress on social media using different hashtags for each month’s challenges.  (More on that in a minute) I will have check-in blog posts where everyone can comment on their progress and cheer each other on.  Email subscribers will get exclusive tips and information, so if you aren’t signed up to subscribe to my newsletter, sign up here!

I’m really excited about this Healthy Year Challenge and hope that you will all join in.  Are you ready to hear what the focus will be for January?

January is cut the sugar month!

After the holidays, it seemed only fitting to have January focus on eating less sugar. There is not one person in the world who wouldn’t benefit from eating less sugar.  It can help your health in so many ways, from weight loss to increased energy to better skin.

This challenge may look different from person to person, but together we are all working towards the same goal of consuming less sugar.  For me, this is going to look like cutting out all sugar for the month of January.  I’ve done cold turkey before, and it works well for me.  I feel great when I do it and it’s the perfect way to reset my body after indulging too much in December.  So I won’t be eating anything with added sugar, including maple syrup, honey, or other natural sweeteners.  I’ll eat natural sugars from fruit, and that is all.

You can go cold turkey, or perhaps you’d rather just cut out all refined sugars.  Or maybe you’ll challenge yourself to only eat treats with sugar one day a week.  You decide how you want to implement the challenge.  Just join in!

You can do this! You may surprise yourself with how great you feel eating less sugar.  It’s one month.  Let’s do it!

We will use two hashtags to connect.  #HappyHealthyMamaHealthyYearChallenge  and #cutthesugar

If you are on social media, you can post progress updates using these hashtags.  The hashtags will connect us all and help us form a community of accountability!  I will be posting updates on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, so if you use any of those please follow me.

For those of you not using social media, no worries! I will have check-in blog posts where everyone can comment and share their progress. So even if you aren’t on social media, you can (and should!) be a part of this challenge community.

Are you ready to make 2016 your healthiest year yet?  Are you ready to actually STICK to the resolution of being healthier this year? Let’s do it together! Are you with me? If you are thinking of joining this challenge, please leave a comment below.  I’m excited! I hope you are, too!