The start of the year always means one thing... the return of Gymshark 66, this is a 66 day challenge that I always start on January 1st however, I have never completed it. 2024 is going to be different though as I am 100% determined that at some point after day 66 is March I will be writing a full wrap up post on here saying how I managed to complete all 66 days and how I feel so much better for it. 

I gave up previously for the silliest of reasons and I put too much pressure on myself but this year I won't be making that mistake, the goals I set myself before were just too unrealistic so I have really toned it down whilst also making sure what I pick is going to help me achieve those goals I set myself for the year. This years 66 is all in app which is going to make keeping up super easy, plus the app will show me my progress meaning I am more likely to stick to it. To take part this year all you had to do was pick 3 habits to tick off daily, there was plenty of choices across 3 categories: 

Mind

Nutrition

Fitness

The fact these were the categories just seemed to reel me in to giving the 66 another try as these are 3 areas where habits being built would be really beneficial for me. My big goal for 2024 is self growth so the 3 habits I picked for this would help me on my way to achieving that in the long run. After some careful consideration I ended up opting for a habit from each category and here is what I chose & why...

Stay in my calorie target

Over eating was a big issue for me in 2023 and is one of the many reasons why my weight loss journey went backwards rather than making the progress I had hoped to. I am hoping that by having stick to my calories as a habit for the first 66 days I will just naturally fall into continuing this when the challenge is over. I know that with my lifestyle as it is now if I can stick to this and get my nutrition under control I will soon start to see the benefits.

Learn something new 

This is another one I couldn't resist when I saw it. A big goal of mine is to finish 4 Open University free courses to help me out in various aspects of life so when I saw this I knew I had to have this one as part of my Gymshark 66. In the 66 days of the challenge I should be able to complete a few of these courses and hopefully it will inspire me to push on for the rest of the year and complete even more than the 4 I set out to complete.

Daily workout / exercise 

I really need to get my body moving again as I really slacked off in 2023 and you can tell. Daily workouts & exercise are something I am striving for as I know it will do my knee some good and help me on my weight loss journey. I know that it will also help me mentally as I know when I am consistent in working out my mental health is so much better. This doesn't need to be high intensity every day either some days might simply be going on a longer dog walk but I know each day will be different to keep me going.

I am 100% sure that if I stick to these habits for those 66 days I am going to end up carrying them on beyond that and really seeing the progress I want to see in 2024 so let's hope it all goes to plan unlike in previous years. I really want 2024 to be a much better year so let's hope completing these 66 days sets me off on a good start.