Make or Break a Habit in 21 days!

Happy Wednesday, Everyone, we have already made it halfway through the week!

In today's blog you will find: -Advice on breaking or making a habit
                                               -HIIT workout idea
                                               -A couple recipes worth trying! [[gluten free]]

Did you know it takes only 21 consecutive days to make or break a habit? Well if you didn't already, now you do.  This could be great motivation for some who are willing to cut out an old habit or create one that you have always been wanting to keep up with. 
A Habit is an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary; a regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up. In other words, repetition of the same physical action can eventually become an automatic reflex. Habits are repeated actions that ultimately can help people achieve their goals.

Here are a few ideas of good habits to form::
-Brushing your teeth morning/night
-Flossing your teeth morning/night
-Wearing your seat belt
-Taking a water bottle with you throughout the day
-Exercising
-Preparing meals/bags/clothes the night before
-Stretching
-Meditating
-Get up earlier
-Review your goals
-Write to-do lists
-Save money
-Have family time
-Read
-Saying a prayer before bed

Here are a few ideas of bad habits you might want to break:
-Smoking
-Give up sweets
-Give up fried foods
-Drinking soda
-Eating fast food
-Not wearing your seat belt
-Sleeping in
-Staying up late
-Slouching
-Being late
-Nail biting
-Gossiping
-Alcohol

1) First thing to trashing an old habit or creating a new one is to make a list of each habit you would like to focus on. 

2) Next, you want to put them in order to decide which is most important to start with to improve your overall healthy lifestyle. (You only want to focus on ONE habit at a time to prevent overwhelming yourself)

3) Then you need to decide why you really want to form this habit or get rid of it.  Think of personal and inspiring reasons to help motivate you to stick to the 21 days of habit form/breaking. If you need to purchase something to get your habit started, get what you need (floss, alarm clock, note pads).

4) Figure out what triggers the bad habit, or what makes you avoid the new habit you want to create and decide how to change those reasons.

5) Engage others, try to get others to join you in your 21 day habit challenge.  I'm sure you can find someone who is looking to break or create a new habit and more than likely they will have the same habit as yourself!

6) Write out affirmations to keep you motivated and going towards the goal of your habit.  There's nothing better than to see notes to yourself to keep you positive the entire 21 days!

7) Lastly, visualize yourself reaching your new habit.  How good will you look, how much better will you feel, what will others think of you?

(Myself doing one legged jump ropes)

Add in a few of both legs to give your calves a rest

I always love to try new HIIT workouts! (High intensity interval training).  HIIT is a type of performance during a workout that involves a short duration with very high intensity followed by a longer duration of lower intensity.  Today I decided to do 1,000 one-legged jump ropes. I did 100 between each set during lifting! It's challenging but gets my heart up and down pretty quick :)

Or do one legged high knee jump ropes! 

Love my polar watch! It lets me know where my heart rate is, how long I should rest to get my heart rate down, what percent of calories I'm burning is going towards burning fat, and how many calories I burn during my workout! Seeing these numbers really helps push myself harder to achieve new goals :)

These were very good! [[Pumpkin protein pancakes]]
Recipe::
1 scoop protein powder
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 egg whites
1/4 cup steel cut oats
1/4 cup old fashion oats
1 TBSP maple agave nectar
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
1/2 tsp baking powder
[[blend together blender]]

Topping:
2 TBSP almond butter
1 banana sliced

 This is my recipe for Pumpkin Protein balls (No baking needed).  Tis' the season for pumpkin :)   You need:: (OR can modify to your liking)
-1/2 cup steel cut oats
-1/2 cup old fashion oats
-1/2 cup brown rice flour
-1/4 cup flaxseed meal
-1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
-2 TBSP maple agave nectar
-1/3 cup canned pumpkin
-1 TBSP almond butter
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/4 tsp baking soda
-2 TBSP water

Mix together, roll into balls and there you go!  (Store in baggies or container in fridge)

Thanks for checking out my blog, hope you found can take something useful from it!

Goodnight from my cuddling dog and myself! :)

Question to think about:: What is a habit you would like to make a break? 

Challenge:: Pick one habit and stick to the make or break 21 day process.

Quote of the day:: Sometimes you are delayed where you are because God knows there's a storm where you're headed. Be grateful 

XoXo