How To Live A Healthier Lifestyle After The Sweat Challenge

The Sweat Challenge is designed to help you create healthy habits, achieve your goals and build a solid fitness foundation — but what do you do once it’s over?

As the end of the Sweat Challenge gets closer, you might be feeling excited, but a little apprehensive about the next stage in your health and fitness journey. 

If you reached the goals you set for the challenge, you’re probably wondering “now what”? The truth is, being healthy is all about making positive lifestyle changes — and this is only the beginning!

While not having the structure of the Sweat Challenge to keep you on track might be a scary thought (especially if you’re someone who loses motivation easily), it doesn’t mean your journey should end here. 

Here’s how you can maintain healthy habits long after the Sweat Challenge ends.

What to do after the Sweat Challenge

The end of the Sweat Challenge isn’t an excuse to stop what you’ve been doing —  it’s an opportunity to continue building on your progress! If you’re wondering what to do next, we’ve pulled together a list of our best tips to help you stay on track.

Create new goals (or reset existing ones)

If you achieved the goals you set at the beginning of the Sweat Challenge, that’s amazing — now it’s time to set new ones! Setting meaningful goals can help keep you accountable and inspire you to keep going.

If you haven’t achieved your original goals, don’t feel discouraged. Take the opportunity to revisit them and ask yourself what’s holding you back or what didn't go to plan?

Perhaps your goals weren't realistic within the 6-week timeframe? Or did an unexpected setback get in your way? Once you've identified the causes, you can use the SMART framework to help reset your goals with a more informed approach — and we’re betting you’ll be more motivated than ever to hit them! 

Keep doing workouts you love

One of the most common exercise excuses is a lack of motivation — and one way to find fitness inspiration is by moving your body in a way you actually enjoy. 

During the Sweat Challenge, you might have found yourself looking forward to some workouts, and others not so much.  Ask yourself what it was that you enjoyed about each session. Did you like using dumbbells? Or was it the feeling of getting your heart rate up? Do you prefer to work out at home or in the gym? 

If you loved your Sweat Challenge program, you might choose to progress with the original version of that Sweat Program or one that follows a similar training style. If you found you were starting to plateau, challenge yourself by adding more resistance to exercises, or try harder variations. Alternatively, it might be time to step outside of your comfort zone and try a different training style altogether. 

The great thing about following one of the Sweat Programs after the Sweat Challenge is that you will still have daily and weekly goals to help keep you accountable — and doing workouts you enjoy means you’ll be more motivated to meet those goals!

Get into a routine that’s realistic for you

Let’s be real, the motivation you have during a fitness challenge is often unmatched outside of it, which means you might have pushed yourself more than usual over the last few weeks.

When it comes to creating a consistent routine after the Sweat Challenge, it’s important to be realistic and understand that a healthy lifestyle is a sustainable one. You might have other priorities at different times, or days when you just don’t feel like working out, and that’s okay.  

Find support in the Sweat Community

There’s no doubt one of the best parts of the Sweat Challenge is having the support of thousands of other women from around the world! While the Sweat Challenge must come to an end, the incredible Sweat Community isn’t going anywhere. 

It’s normal to lose motivation when you don’t have accountability, so make it your mission to stay connected with your support network, workout buddies and other women via the Sweat Forum or on Instagram.

Avoid making excuses

If you’re someone who has trouble sticking to a workout plan on your own, think about why that is and how you can approach any workout excuses when they creep up. 

For example, if you lead a busy lifestyle, make sure you’re organised — you might place your activewear on your chair the night before your morning workout or schedule your workouts using the Sweat Planner. If you always bail on a gym session, is it because you don’t feel confident going alone? Recruit a gym buddy, or put your headphones in and let your favourite workout playlist help you get in your zone! 

Don’t stop because of a setback

Fitness is all about the journey, and like anything else in life, it can change from week to week. Take what you’ve learnt from completing the Sweat Challenge (it might be scheduling your workouts in advance to keep yourself accountable or that Sundays are always rest days), establish a routine you’ll be able to stick to and keep reminding yourself what it is you’re working towards and why (that’s where your goals come in!).

No one gets it right 100% of the time, and trying to follow every healthy habit all day, every day, isn't realistic or suitable for most people. Remember, missing a couple of gym sessions or eating meals that fall outside of your healthy eating plan is not the end of the world. We don’t develop healthy habits overnight and need to practice them regularly for them to become part of our routine.

Where will you take your journey next?

The Sweat Challenge is an opportunity to create healthy habits you can maintain long-term — It’s not meant to be a quick fix. 

Take a moment to appreciate how far you’ve come since starting the Sweat Challenge and how you feel about your achievements! Remember this feeling, it’s fantastic motivation to help you keep up the healthy lifestyle changes you have made.

Now that you’re well-equipped with the tools you need to start this new chapter of your fitness journey, where will you take it next?