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30 Day Challenge Series, Day 29: Reflect on What Changed This Month

In today’s episode, Cheryl guides you through one of the most important parts of building lasting habits: reflection. As the challenge nears the end, this is a chance to look back on the entire experience and notice what actually shifted for you.

Cheryl explains how reflection helps reinforce progress, identify what worked, and spot what did not work without judgment. Today’s habit is simple and quick, but powerful. You are going to write a few notes about what changed, what you learned, and what you want to carry forward. The goal is not perfection. It is awareness, progress, and building a sustainable approach to healthy habits that fits into real life.

Takeaways

  • Reflection reinforces progress and helps you recognize what is working
  • Noticing change helps your brain see the challenge mattered and created results
  • Small changes and small increments are the most sustainable way to build habits
  • Looking back helps you identify which habits you enjoyed and which felt harder
  • The tracker can help you spot patterns in consistency without judgment
  • Awareness is the first step to improving what comes next

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Episode Transcript

Cheryl McColgan (00:00)
Hey everyone, I'm Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to day 29 of the 30 Days of Healthy Habits Challenge. So we're getting here towards the end and it is time to reflect again. So this will be similar to some of the reflect and resets that we did throughout the challenge on each seventh day. But today we want to reflect on what has changed this whole.

So what is it that you've learned from this challenge? What things changed for you? Did you enjoy moving every day? Did you discover a form of movement that brings you some joy while you're doing it? I want you to write three quick notes about what changed today. So just the minimum, two or three things. Reflection helps you reinforce the progress that you've made and helps you notice what is actually working and also maybe what is not working.

So as you're reflecting, can write down really any thoughts that you have around this, but at least three bullet points is what I'd like for you to come up with that changed. And we also see that there's some evidence that your brain can see there was a change, that this wasn't all for nothing, that it wasn't just another exercise in futility, but things actually did change or shift. And so even if you weren't perfect every single day, even if you missed some of the days, this was never meant to be about.

Perfect, right? Like when I said from the outset, I don't want this to be something like a challenge that's like 75 hardware, you miss something, you have to start all over, it's really punitive. And I think there are obviously some advantages to those kinds of challenges as well, but this is just something to ease you in to making changes and to learn how the best way to make sustainable habits is to make small changes, small increments.

note your progress, really create it in a way that works, that can fit into a busy schedule, but that you're still actually making changes and making progress along the way. Notice, maybe look at your tracker, if you need help thinking about things that worked or didn't work, notice how consistent you were or lack of consistency if that's the case. Again, we're not judging here, we're just noticing and hopefully thinking about some things that would carry well into your future.

As always, the links for the research are in your tracker and in today's email. And if you haven't signed up, if you're just finding this and you're like, what is this whole challenge all about? Just go to heelnourishgrow.com slash habits, and you can join anytime. So that is it for today 29. And I will be back with you one last time tomorrow for the habits and the final day. So get ready.

Author

  • Cheryl McColgan

    Cheryl McColgan is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Heal Nourish Grow, where she has published evidence-based health and nutrition content since 2018.

    With over 30 years of experience in fitness, nutrition, and healthy living, and nearly 20 years of professional editorial and journalism experience, she brings both subject-matter depth and trained editorial judgment to everything on the site.

    Cheryl holds a degree in Psychology with a minor in Addictions Studies, completed graduate training in Clinical Psychology, and is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and E-RYT Certified Yoga Instructor and trained in Yoga Therapy.

    She is the author of 21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart, Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight, The Grain Free Cookbook for Beginners, and Easy Weeknight Keto.

    Read more about Cheryl and the journey that created Heal Nourish Grow on the about page.

    Cheryl McColgan is the founder of Heal Nourish Grow, where she writes about protein, body composition, healthy aging, and evidence-based nutrition and wellness along with the everyday habits that actually make those things work in real life.

    With a background in psychology and graduate training in clinical psychology, plus nearly 20 years of experience in editorial and publishing, Cheryl approaches health from both a research and real-world perspective. She’s also been immersed in fitness and nutrition for more than 25 years, which gives her a practical lens most purely academic content tends to miss.

    Her work today focuses heavily on protein intake (especially for women), muscle retention, metabolic health, and sustainable fat loss, along with topics like sleep, wellness, recovery, and wearable health tech. You’ll also find a mix of high-protein, low-carb recipes designed to make hitting those goals easier without overcomplicating things.

    Cheryl’s interest in health and nutrition became more personal after navigating her own health challenges, which pushed her to dig deeper into how lifestyle, diet and daily habits impact long-term health. That experience continues to shape how she approaches everything on this site: practical, realistic, and focused on what actually works over time.
    What Cheryl Covers
    Most of the content here falls into a few core areas:

    Protein & Muscle Health: how much you actually need, especially for women and how to use protein to support strength, body composition, and aging
    Fat Loss & Metabolic Health: sustainable approaches that prioritize muscle retention and long-term results
    Healthy Habits & Lifestyle: sleep, movement, strength training, consistency, and the small things that compound over time
    Wearables & Recovery: real-world testing and comparisons of tools like Oura, Whoop and others
    High-Protein & Low-Carb Recipes: simple, realistic meals that support your goals without feeling restrictive
    Travel & Lifestyle: wellness-focused travel, outdoor experiences, and a slightly more elevated take on healthy living

    If you're new, here are a few good places to begin:

    30 Day Healthy Habits Challenge

    Protein Foundations

    High Protein Recipes

    About Cheryl & Heal Nourish Grow

    Coaching and Programs