Did you make a new years resolution to get fit, lose weight, or eat healthier?

How are you doing on that resolution?

Well the good news is your new year and your new goal doesn’t have to start on January 1st. You can decide to be a better version of yourself any day, like tomorrow!

Get ready to set your goal, change your habits, and step towards a new you! The best way to do this is by finding a program that you can follow, that gives you the nutrition you need and the support you need to hit your goal.

I’m all about challenging myself in a series of 90 day challenges with the Body By Vi Challenge. My first 90 day challenge was a business challenge to earn my free BMW – accomplished. My second challenge was to gain 10lbs lean muscle – I gained 8lbs. I’m currently on my third challenge and my goal is to increase my flexibility and strength – to be able to do the splits all ways and get in optimum dance shape again. I do know that setting and reaching health goals is way more fun when it’s done with friends. Maybe it’s the dancer in me, but I am way more motivated to go to the gym if I’m going with a friend, or taking a group fitness class when I get there. 

A few things (in my opinion) that are fun about doing a health or fitness challenge with your friends:

1) It gives you something to do together. Even if you aren’t doing the same challenge as someone else, you can still celebrate achievements with friends and hold each other accountable to hit short and long term goals.

2) You have more reasons to celebrateExample: You set a 1/2 a week goal, your friend sets a 1 week goal. You celebrate yourself hitting your goal halfway through the week, and celebrate with your friend at the end of the week. See? Two celebrations instead of one. 

3) Getting healthy and working out is way more fun with friends. Power in numbers. Girls, if we can’t go to the bathroom without each other, how are we supposed to make life-long healthy lifestyle changes without each other?

4) You’ll have more success. Fact: If you enroll in a weight loss (health and fitness) program with three friends or colleagues you already know, the odds of maintaining your weight-loss 10 months later go up to 66% versus 24% if you enroll in a program alone.

5) You can swap recipes and grocery shop together. You will be less likely to eat unhealthy if you have someone telling you that you shouldn’t be buying that case of soda or box of cookies. 

6) You will save money by eating healthy. When I started my first challenge I saved about $200 on my grocery bill the first month.

Here are just a couple examples of how eating healthier can save you money:

  • Let’s say you spend roughly $5 a meal eating out (which is an EXTREMELY low number!! 
     3 meals a day ($5 each) = $15 a day, $105 a week, spend $420 a month.
  • So if you only eat 3 meals a day, no snacks, no coffee, no energy drinks, don’t take any vitamins and don’t go out on the weekends, congratulations you only spend about $400 a month fueling yourself…and still aren’t at optimum health.
  • Do you drink soda? Buy popcorn? Snacks? Energy drinks? Anything besides just your 3 meals a day? Add $9 a day.
  •  (3 meals a day ($5 each) + 3 snacks ($9) + Coffee ($2.19) + 3 supplements ($1.00) + 5 hour energy/frappuccino/2 sodas/monster/redbull/vitamin waters/ any other misc. drink or food or workout addition ($5) =  That’s $32.19 a day, $225.33 a week, and spend about $901.32 a month on fueling yourself.
  •  I guarantee you, you won’t be getting any healthier that way either.

So spend a little time cutting up fruits and veggies, making meals at home and taking snacks and luches to work. It will save you money and you will feel and look way better too! 

6) The more you give the more you getI can’t even begin to tell you how rewarding it is to have someone come up to you and say “because of you I didn’t give up”, or “because you introduced me to this program my life has changed”. When you decide to go on your own health journey and start finding success, you will inevitably positively impact the people around you. You can’t change the world unless you change yourself… so as Michael Jackson said, “take a look at yourself and make a change”. 

7) Working out is WAY more fun when you’re doing it with friends. Not only that but you’ll work out harder and actually do it when someone holds you accountable! Join a group fitness class if you need help just moving, get a membership at the same gym, make a date of it. You can catch up while you’re working off last week’s, month’s, or year’s cookies and burgers!

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Brittany Petersen

Certified Holistic Health Coach, Drugless Practitioner (AADP), Body By Vi Regional Director, Pure Barre Instructor, Certified Group Fitness Instructor (AFAA), Dance Teacher and Health Food Addict.

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