Restarting Healthy Routines: Tips and Tools to Get Back on Track - and Stay on Track

In this article:

• It can feel confusing or overwhelming when you’re ready to get back to your healthy routines after a setback or pause. 
• A good first step can be to think about why you may have gotten away from your healthy routines - such as a seasonal change, a new job, loss of motivation, or other reasons. 
• Regain motivation by remembering your reasons for making those changes in the first place.
• Identify which of your healthy routines have changed, and which you’d like to get back to doing. 
• It can be overwhelming to jump back in all at once if you’ve strayed far from your previous healthy routines. Instead, choose just 1-2 habits to re-establish.
• Once those habits become second nature, add another 1-2 at a time.
• Lark can support you 24/7 as you make healthy choices to lose weight and manage blood sugar, blood pressure, or other conditions with or without GLP-1s. 

It’s normal to have ebbs and flows in your health journey. A setback or lapse from your usual set of healthy decisions can last weeks or months. When you’re ready to restart your healthy routine, it can feel challenging if you don’t know where to start or the entire routine seems out of reach at this point. 

Don’t worry - there’s a blueprint for that! These steps can help you get back on track so that healthy choices become routine again - and health and weight loss goals are closer within reach. You can get back to where you were - and beyond!

Identifying Why Your Routine Stopped - and Starting Fresh

There are many possible reasons why a healthy routine might stop. Here are just a few. 

• Lack of motivation - possibly from not making progress or putting out more effort than you feel that it’s worth
• Lack of progress - often leading to lack of motivation
• A new job or change in work schedule or caregiving duties - leading to less time for cooking or a change in schedule that makes planning tougher
• A change in financial status - making it more difficult to purchase your favorite healthy foods
• Spending time with a different group of friends

For short-term changes, consider whether you might be able to return to your healthy routine if the temporary cause is over. For example, if you got out of the habit of preparing fresh foods at home because of a long road trip, it might be time to get back to your pre-trip habit of shopping and cooking. 

For more permanent changes, you may have to find new solutions. For example, if you stopped exercising because your favorite hiking path closed, it might be time to find new hiking trails, or to try a different type of activity to get in your workout.

Forgive Yourself and Move Forward

It’s possible that you worked hard to develop a healthy routine and to stick with it for a time. You may have noticed progress like weight loss or improved health measures like lower blood sugar, lower blood pressure, or improved cholesterol numbers. It can be frustrating to think about the effort and progress that you made before, and to feel upset with yourself. 

Feeling upset with yourself may be normal, but it’s also just an early step in the process of moving forward past the setback and towards restarting your healthy routines. The next step is to forgive yourself, just like you’d forgive a good friend after a misunderstanding. After making peace with yourself, you can focus entirely on your comeback. 

Renew Your Motivation

Motivation is essential as you get ready to restart your healthy routine (or establish a new healthy routine). Try remembering your original reasons for wanting to make changes or lose weight - was it…

• To improve health? 
• To increase confidence?
• To boost energy? 
• To fit into certain clothes? 

It’s also worth noting any reasons that have changed or that you’ve added since starting your healthy routine. Maybe, for example, you had increased energy when you ate well and were active regularly. Or maybe you were in a better mood when you got more sleep. Maybe you even had better digestion when you ate high-fiber foods like vegetables and whole grains. 

Choose 1-2 Starting Points

Keep it gradual when you’re ready to restart your healthy routine. Aim for just 1-2 small steps at a time. Here are some examples. 

• If you’re not active regularly now, try just walking for 5 minutes after you park and before you pick up the kids from school.
• Put a case of water bottles in the car so water is always on hand when you’re thirsty.
• Have half your usual amount of mayo on sandwiches, and add a bit of dijon mustard for flavor. 

Once those are routine again, move on to more small steps. Soon, you’ll have an entire set of healthy behaviors that make up a healthy routine - maybe even better than the one you had before. 

Mapping Your Comeback: Small Steps to Big Results

Scale back and start over without being overwhelmed. Use this quick-reference guide to swap out massive, intimidating goals for manageable, micro-habits - just like Lark recommends!

Use Lark for Accountability

When you restart a healthy routine, feeling accountable can help you keep it up. Holding yourself accountable can be a good start, but having an accountability partner can give you a solid boost. Lark can help increase accountability in many ways.

• Judgment-free real-time logging - Lark makes it simple to log your meals, track your physical activity, and record your weight. Because your Lark coach is digital, you get instant feedback loops and data-driven insights - no judgment, just support. 
• 24/7 Availability: Unlike a human coach or a gym buddy, Lark is in your pocket around the clock. Whether you need a midnight reminder of your goals, a morning nudge to log your breakfast, or quick encouragement after a stressful day, Lark is there.
• Celebrations and positive feedback loops - Whether you’re restarting a routine or keeping it up, every small victory counts. Boost consistency with Lark as you build wins ike tracking three days in a row or hitting a daily step milestone. The more you win, the more you want to win - leading to lasting habits.
• Seamless Integration - Lark syncs with your devices to track your sleep and steps automatically. This passive accountability ensures you always have an accurate picture of your progress without feeling like you are doing extra homework.

Lark Can Help

Lark’s digital coach on your phone can help you start, continue, or restart healthy routines that work for your lifestyle. Your Lark coach is available 24/7 for encouragement, nutrition and physical activity coaching, and habit tracking. Lark can help you make healthy choices and establish habits that fit into your lifestyle so you can lose weight and keep it off with or without GLP-1 medications. 

Click here to see if you may be eligible to join Lark today!

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