Knowing that you need to make healthier decisions in your life and actually doing them is two different extremes. Often breaking bad habits and developing new routines that are far removed from what you’re used to can prove challenging. You may start making an effort but after a few days fall back to old ways. If you’re going to get the healthy mind and body you want you’ll have to dig deeper.
Write Your Goals Down
Start by writing down your health and fitness goals. Visualizing them can encourage you to work towards them daily. Whether it’s losing a couple of pounds, giving up coffee, ditching cigarettes, or building stronger muscles put it on paper.
Break Them Down
Now that you know what you’re trying to accomplish, break those goals down into smaller tasks. For instance, if your goal is to lose 60 pounds in one year, smaller objectives would be to try and lose 5 pounds each month or just a little more than a pound every week. When you see the smaller objectives, it makes it easier to digest and take action.
Take Baby Steps
Going full steam ahead usually doesn’t work when trying to meet health and fitness goals. You put all your energy into it only to fail or not see the results you want and then you feel less inclined to keep going. For example, if you’re trying to quit smoking cold turkey you may find that the withdrawal symptoms are more than you can handle and simply go back to smoking. However, if you look into ways to quit smoking like vaping, you may be able to ween yourself off using lower levels of nicotine in your e-liquids.
Reward Yourself
There’s nothing like a reward to make you feel good about accomplishing a goal. Rewards can also serve as motivation to help you reach a certain point in your efforts. Think about some things you love or enjoy that are healthy for you. Write them down and put them next to your health and fitness goals. As you complete one of the smaller tasks, pick something off the reward list to put a smile on your face. A new shirt, a nice lunch, or even a day at the spa can make all that hard work feel worth it.
Get Some Support
Trying to change your lifestyle for the better isn’t easy on your own. There’s no one to hold you accountable or keep you on the straight and narrow. Having support from others, however, changes all that. Ask a friend or relative to join you in making better eating habits, complete your workouts as a family, or ask someone you know to be your accountability partner. You can also get great support from members at your local gym or a personal trainer. As they are like-minded individuals trying to improve their health, they’re inclined to help you through the ups and downs.
Keep Going
A lot of times people set out to accomplish a goal, suffer a setback, and decide to give up altogether. For instance, you might have vowed to give up coffee, then have a cup of joe in the office, and assume you’ll never actually stop drinking it. The real secret to meeting your health and fitness goals is to keep going. Even if you miss a step or backslide the days prior, it’s never too late to start again.
If only it were simple to stop eating things that aren’t good for you and maintain regular physical activity to stay in shape. However, when you’re used to consuming whatever you’d like and not prioritizing your exercise needs, making a switch is a struggle. Yet complication doesn’t mean impossible. It simply means you need to employ solutions like those discussed above to help you stay on track with your goals. If you stick to the advice and remember not to give up eventually you will become as healthy and as fit as you’d hoped.