October is one of my favorite months of the year. The air finally starts to feel crisp, but the sun still feels warm, and the leaves are turning. Apples are in season, and it’s ideal sweatshirt temperature in the mornings.
For many of us, October also represents the calm between the start of school and fall activities, and the hustle of the holiday season. We feel more settled into our daily routines, and the disruptions of Thanksgiving and Christmas still feel slightly distant. When it comes to our health and fitness, especially our nutrition habits, it can be really easy to start thinking, “well, if I start something now I’ll just get off track again during the holidays, so it won’t really be worth it. I’ll just wait until the New Year.”
There’s no question that there are big disruptions to our normal schedule throughout the last few months of the year. But does that mean we need to lose the chance to make progress on our wellness for a whole quarter, and for many of us, end up in a worse spot in January than when we started? Absolutely not.
Think about it this way: November and December certainly bring a lot of extra events and to-dos with them. But even with those commitments, there’s still a lot of “in-between time.” For example, say you have an end-of-year school event for your kids at 7pm. Your dinner routine will get changed up, for sure, but you still have your morning routine, breakfast, lunch, and a bedtime routine that won’t be disturbed. Because that day is extra busy, you probably default to your baseline “background routine.” In other words, you’ll do what feels easiest and most habitual for breakfast, lunch, bedtime routine, etc.
While the last few months of the year may not be the time to make major lifestyle changes and overhaul your life, it is the perfect time to tweak these “background routines.” These habitual patterns make up a large percentage of our time, but when we’re busy and stressed, they go on autopilot. What kind of place would your health be in if you leaned into making some positive changes to your background routines before the stress hits? What if, instead of scrolling your phone at night until you fall asleep, you were already in the habit of reading for a few minutes and getting to bed early? What if, instead of the bakery pastry that leaves you ravenous an hour later, you were already in the habit of prepping your overnight oats the day before?
We all need accountability and guidance to change our routines. The nutrition program at Prowess specializes in exactly this type of sustainable, effective habit change to help you feel your best. To find out if nutrition coaching at Prowess is the right fit for you, click the link below to sign up for a free intro! We’re excited to talk with you.
Emma Rains
Nutrition Coach
Prowess Fitness + Nutrition
