Do you want to know the key to weight loss?
An article on weight loss in Time magazine emphasizes a great truth: the key to weight loss is finding your best way there rather than trying trendy diets. Scientists are showing that while weight loss will never be easy, finding a personalized plan will help anyone reach a healthy weight. Adopting and practicing any of the 21 LiVe Well target behaviors requires each of us to discover our own personal formula for what works and what doesn’t work.
What are the 21 LiVe Well target behaviors?
LiVe Healthy: Care for your body with sleep, activity, and healthy food.
1. Get appropriate and timely preventive screenings.
2. Get appropriate and timely immunizations.
3. Do 150 minutes of moderate/vigorous aerobic exercise per week.
4. Do strength training at least two times per week.
5. Sit less. Stand up and move two to three minutes every 20 – 30 minutes.
6. Eat more fruits and vegetables (seven to nine servings per day).
7. Limit daily added sugar (no more than nine teaspoons for men, six teaspoons for women).
8. Get seven to nine hours of sleep per night.
9. Don’t use tobacco or e-cigarettes.
10. Wear seatbelts and use car seats, helmets, and sunscreen.
11. Limit alcohol, and do not misuse prescription drugs.
Need help finding a workout? Try this LiVe Well Strength Training Workout!
LiVe Happy: Be your best self, even during times of change and stress.
12. Use effective stress management strategies to give you confidence to handle what comes your way.
13. Use healthy thinking to promote a growth mindset with optimism, gratitude, and forgiveness.
Recommended for you: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
LiVe Secure: Be financially secure today and in the future.
14. Spend less than you earn.
- Limit debt.
15. Save and invest.
16. Be prepared for emergencies.
- Have 3-6 months of emergency savings.
- Have a 72-hour kit at home, work, and in your car.
- Have a family emergency communication plan.
Recommended for you: What Happy People Know
LiVe Engaged: Be highly engaged at work. Love what you do each day.
17. Know and focus regularly on the meaning and purpose of your life.
18. Spend your resources (time, money, energy) on those activities that are consistent with the meaning and purpose of your life.
19. Learn and grow in significant and positive ways that support your strengths, meaning, and purpose in life.
Recommended for you: Scanning for Positives and Taking in the Good
LiVe Connected: Create and sustain healthy, positive relationships at work, home, and in the community.
20. Create and maintain supportive relationships with others.
21. Do things in your life that benefit others or that would make a positive difference in the world.
Discover what works for you in regards to the 21 target behaviors.
For example, target behavior #3 is getting 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each week. There are a thousand ways to practice this behavior. It just depends on how you discover what works for you and what you enjoy. Is it a morning run or a combination of walking, swimming, and basketball? Do you do it in 10-minute intervals throughout the week or do it all on the weekend? It’s up to you.
What do the words experiment, experience, and expert all have in common?
They all have the same Latin root, experior, which means to test, find out, experience, and put to the test. Apply what you learn from other’s experiences. We can learn from other people about what works for them. It may not mean it will work for us, but it provides ideas for us to try. Be careful to not compare yourself with others or think that they found quick and easy solutions. Generally, they’ve also learned from lots of personal experimentation.