30 Day Blueprint For Better Health & Fertility
When it comes to fertility and all of the health and fitness resources readily available to help support it, the good news is there is lots of resources to use, consume, and take advantage of.
The bad news is, well, there is lots of resources to use, consume, and take advantage of.
Let me explain.
Focusing on fitness and nutrition as a strategy to help support your personal journey and efforts for conceiving we see recommended time and time again by health care professionals and backed by study after study.
The problem is, with so much health information readily available, it’s confusing, scary, and even discouraging at times just knowing where to look, what to do, and how to start.
Some plans and programs guarantee success in just 7 days while others suggest it’s a 6-12 month commitment.
I suggest we get rid of these unrealistic timelines and focus instead on creating sustainable fitness and nutrition habits that’ll support your fertility efforts in 30 days increments.
30 days is just the right amount of time to learn and understand new eating habits, new exercises, and create new healthy patterns that can be repeated again and again, day after day.
There’s often skepticism around how much can actually be achieved in 30 days. It doesn’t seem like that much time to achieve substantial health and fitness results but the truth is it’s the perfect amount of time.
Just ask Cathy Broadwell, co-author of our sister blog, Slow Swimmers & Fried Eggs who had her own personal journey dealing with infertility.
Having successfully lost weight and inches over a 90-day period, Cathy admits she was skeptical of what I suggested she could achieve in a mere 30 days after one of our calls together.
A few conversations later, followed by a 30 day fitness and nutrition plan, she lost almost ten pounds, two inches each off of her waist and hips, and found herself feeling better than ever.
So what did we do? What did Cathy do during the 30 days? What did the fitness and nutrition plan look like that she followed to get her these incredible results; feeling fit, fertile, and full of energy?
Let’s dive in and dissect these 30 days so that you too can have a clear path to feeling healthy, fit, and fertile in just 30 days.
The Big Picture
Before committing to these next 30 days, make it a point and priority to focus on the overall big picture when it comes to health, fitness, and nutrition.
Yes it will help support fertility and conceiving. Proper fitness and nutrition will also support other areas such as decreased stress, more energy, more confidence, clothes fitting better, less down time with potential colds and illnesses, etc.
Use these 30 days that are focused on fitness and nutrition, to strengthen and support the connection between you and your partner on your way to achieving your fitness goals and throughout your fertility journey.
Let’s Get Started
Set A Health Goal
In addition to using fitness and nutrition as part of your strategy to be as fertile as possible, add an objective goal to the mix, a goal you can focus on and measure (such as a specific amount of weight loss or clothes size) that you want to achieve.
Make A List
Make a list of all the reasons why it’s important for you to lose weight or drop a dress size in addition to your fertility efforts. These will be the reasons that keep you focused and committed throughout the 30 days.
Have A Fitness Plan
A fitness plan consists of both cardiovascular exercise and weight training workouts. The plan Cathy followed had her completing (3) 30 minute cardio exercises and (3) weight training workouts per week.
While her cardio consisted primarily of running, you can also bike, swim, or use the elliptical. What matters is that you complete 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise (3) times per week.
For weight training exercises, here’s a 12 minute workout you can do anywhere without the need of any fitness equipment that will do the trick.
Decide ahead of time on which days you will do each workout for all 30 days.
Planning ahead exponentially increases your chances of being successful and seeing similar results to what Cathy experienced in her 30 days.
Have A Nutrition Plan
The most important part of the entire plan is the food; how and what you eat throughout the entire 30 days.
Stick to natural, unprocessed foods such as fruits, vegetables, leans meats, grains, eggs, etc. Here’s a shopping list of recommended foods to buy and have at the house and eat throughout the week.
Drink Plenty Of Water
Proper hydration throughout the day not only helps support healthy hormone levels, vital to fertility, it also increases weight loss, energy, and mental focus. Make it a goal to drink 64 ounces of water or more per day.
Find An Accountability Partner
Having someone who will support and encourage you along the way as I did for Cathy, but also hold you accountable to follow through on your plan and the commitments you’ve made, is necessary to have for a successful 30 days.
Whether it’s your partner, a family member, or a friend; make certain that it’s someone who cares for you yet will also hold you accountable to making sure you are exercising when you should be and eating the right foods too.
Make health, both fitness and nutrition, part of your fertility journey, not just to conceive, but to be healthier and happier along the way too.
