You’ve got everything ready for the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge. You’ve planned your weekly meals, scheduled in your exercise and are all over the Challenge Hub and the tools you’ll need throughout the four weeks.
Then you get started and your partner, friends or family members start with their negative comments that make you feel like you should give up all your good intentions – they want to ruin your Challenge “party”.
It can be really difficult if your partner or others are not fully on board with your plans to make healthy changes in your life but the main thing to remember is that you’re actually doing the Challenge for yourself not anyone else and you need to try and block out negative comments and actions from others and focus on what’s important – you becoming a healthier version of yourself.
Here are some other tips that may help convince the negative people in your life that what you’re doing is such a great thing:
Jealousy
Often people are negative and reluctant for change as they’re actually jealous. They’re jealous that you’ve made the decision to do something for yourself and become a better version of yourself and maybe they might think you won’t be able to pay as much attention towards them or that you’ll become healthier and fitter and they won’t (and they know deep down that they should be doing something about their own situation too).
If you think your partner is feeling jealous then explain to them that the reason you’re doing the Challenge is not to be selfish but in fact quite the opposite. You’ll still be able to pay as much attention towards them and with the healthy eating and regular exercise you’ll have so much more energy to be a better person for your family.
If you think they want to make a healthy change too but aren’t 100% ready yet, then try and encourage them to take small steps whilst you’re on the Challenge to see how they like it – pack them healthy lunches, get them to try a Healthy Mummy Smoothie or two, go for a walk together after dinner. They’ll probably surprise themselves and actually enjoy these small changes and want to do more.
Change
Many people don’t like change. They like their normal routine and usual food and their ‘usual’ partner. Your partner may think you are going to change a lot from doing the Challenge and they may not realise that the changes that will happen are good ones. You’ll still be the same person, just a healthier, happier, more energetic version and so the changes will be good ones for your whole family.
When it comes to food, this can be a big change that your partner and family may not be happy about. They may not want to eat the same healthy meals that you will be eating, they may not want to try new things and new tastes.
This is ok, your partner and family don’t need to do everything and eat everything that you are on the Challenge. You could explain to them that you think that some of the meals you’ve all been eating aren’t necessarily the healthiest and that maybe there should be some more balance in what the family eats.
You can make the meals from the Challenge and just adapt them a little to suit your families’ tastes e.g. add some mashed potato with the meats for your partner if they don’t like lots of salad. Choose some of the pastas or burger type meals to please the kids.
Slowly introduce new tastes and meals and soon they’ll be enjoying the delicious, easy to prepare and most importantly healthy meals as much as you are.
Costs
Your partner might be negative about the Challenge as they think it’s going to break the family budget.
Sometimes buying healthy foods can be more expensive than pre-prepared, frozen type meals from the supermarket but after an initial shop and buying some things you might not normally purchase, your pantry will be filled with healthy ingredients and your grocery bill shouldn’t be much more than normal.
You’ll soon learn how being organised with food preparation and making extra quantities of meals will save you money and make dinner time just as fast as taking out a processed frozen meal, except yours will be a homemade, healthy option.
Investing a bit of money in yours and your families’ health will do wonders for your bank balance in the long run as it will be less likely that you’re paying for doctor and medical bills due to weight related health issues.
Communication
The key to preventing negative comments from your partner or other family members or even friends is to communicate to them openly. Explain to them why you are doing the Challenge, what you want to get out of it and how they can help you.
If they know how important the Challenge is to you and that making these healthy changes in your life isn’t easy but with their support you will get closer to your goals (and maybe theirs), then they are sure to get on your team and back you all the way throughout the Challenge and further.
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