For years, both Bo and I have relied on quick, extreme diet changes in preparation for beach vacations and special events. Most of us know the feeling. First, you start by choosing some unrealistic goal within an even more unrealistic time frame.

I want to lose 10 pounds in a week and fit in a dress that hasn’t fit in two years.

I want to have a flat stomach before my tropical beach vacation.

I want to banish all my arm fat before wearing a strapless formal dress in three weeks.

After years of this mentality and more than one too many food and wine induced hangovers during the month of December, Bo and I started 2015 in a very different mentality.

We were ready to make a lifestyle change.

Working out has not been an issue for either of us over the past seven years. We each workout 5 to 6 days a week. Regardless how busy our schedule, we will make time for an hour workout whether this means eating lunch at our desk, waking up at 5am or going to bed later. We love the post gym endorphins and the strength and self-confidence we gain from a great spin class, day on the slopes, or long run.

Even though we’ve heard from dieticians, personal trainers, blogs and even the New York Times that 80% of weigh loss and health is what goes into our body; we haven’t paid enough attention to this part of the equation. We considered ourselves healthy eaters, not frequenting fast food restaurants or filling our plates with multiple servings of fried foods. But, upon further analysis and lots of conversation, we realized we each had some work to do in the diet and nutrition department.

We didn’t want to re-haul our diet in an extreme way, leading to failure. Instead, we spent a few hours on our Savannah to New York City flight outlining our goals and what we wanted to achieve from the change. Bo is more interested in the psychology of changing what goes in our bodies. While we’ve always known the “right way to eat” and fuel our bodies, it has always been easy to rationalize the little things. I was interested to see how my body and mind would react to the change. For at least five years, I’ve eaten nearly the same thing Monday through Friday, almost reaching a robotic state during breakfast, lunch and snacks.  This would be the perfect opportunity to start experimenting with new cooking techniques, ingredients and snack foods.

Since our goal is a long-term life change versus a January resolution diet, we collaborated on a plan of action, agreeing to evaluate our progress each month and hopefully make further changes as we progress.

Reduce our alcohol intake to 2 nights per week. We can’t exactly pinpoint when we started enjoying a glass or two of wine each night, but it probably coincides quite closely to when our morning workouts became more difficult, and our stomachs became a bit softer. It’s easy to rationalize unhealthy food after two or three glasses of wine. Making dinner becomes a distant memory when a glass of wine is in hand, and the mind is too relaxed.

Cut out Coca-Cola and drastically reduce sugars Of course it is difficult to cut out ALL refined sugars but we have rid our home of Coke Zero, processed snack bars and artificially sweetened foods and desserts. I have substituted my horrible afternoon chocolate and cappuccino or Coke Zero habit with popcorn and sparkling water. I missed Coke Zero for about a week but now I prefer my afternoon sparkling water or warm cup of green tea. I no longer have the 5pm headaches that followed the sugar rush. While Bo and I both have a sweet tooth, we’ve realized that having one or two indulgent, high quality desserts each week is more enjoyable.

Always be prepared.  Whether we’re out on the slopes, at the office, on a plane or even in the comfort of our home we always have healthy food nearby. Our refrigerator and pantry is filled to the brim with roasted chicken, cottage cheese, hard boiled eggs,  freshly popped popcorn, Fage Greek yogurt, apples, clementine oranges, celery, carrots, roasted cashews, almonds and salad ingredients. In case we got hungry while skiing this weekend, we each carried pre-portioned cashews in our ski jacket. We board each flight with two gallon Ziplock filled with yogurt, nuts, hummus, vegetables and fruit.

Portion control is key to success. We use our food scale at the beginning of each week to portion snacks into individual portion containers to make snacking easier. The first day we measured, we realized we were eating 2-3 times the serving size of most foods. Regardless of whether they are healthy or not, food in excess is never healthy. It was a tough habit to get accustomed to the first week but now it’s become second nature.

We committed to making the change together.  We aren’t policing each other’s progress. Instead we are merely cheering each other on each day and supporting the changes. We’ve been going through cookbooks together choosing healthy, weeknight recipes while also planning indulgent weekend meals based on what we’re craving that week. When you’re only having wine, cheese and dessert one or two nights per week there is a lot of joy in anticipating that weekends meals.

Next week, after we’ve had time to reflect on our first month, we’ll be back to share our thoughts and results.

Your turn: What’s a small lifestyle change you’ve implemented that has had a big impact?