Starting a health and fitness journey is not easy, but
it's necessary and important for your wellbeing. There is a lot of information
on getting healthy and staying fit, but so much of it can be overwhelming.
Consequently, here is a compilation of some essential tips to consider if you
are just embarking on your health and fitness journey or need to jump-start a previous
attempt.
Commit to your goals
Before you set about working to achieve any goal, you
have to commit yourself 100%. Establish a pledge that focuses on making changes
that will significantly impact your life and make it firm enough that you won't
give up halfway through.
Additionally, you can't just start with an arbitrary
goal and expect it to work out. Therefore, you should be deliberate in your
purpose, even if it's something small like drinking more water or taking up walking.
These smaller steps will lead you to more extensive and more significant
changes in the future.
Identify Your Motivation
It is essential to know and understand what your
motivation for starting a healthy lifestyle is.
Many reasons may motivate you, for example, losing
weight, improving your health or maybe you want to live longer. Ideally, you
want to try and make changes anchored in your beliefs and ability to stick with
them for the long term. Whatever the reason, keeping the factors that spurred you
to take this action is key to creating a solid stepping stone that will lead to
attaining favourable results throughout your new journey.
Set Up A Plan for Success
A successful plan for a healthy lifestyle starts with
self-awareness. Self-awareness, in this case, means understanding where you are
now and identifying what you want to change for the future. This process can be
undertaken by journaling, checking in with friends and family, or deep
self-reflection.
The next step is setting attainable and measurable
goals to know when you've reached them or are not meeting the mark. Finally,
it's vital to identify your weaknesses and take steps to fix them beforehand so
that with a better understanding of what makes you tick, you also learn how
best to work on your health each day.
Make Gradual Changes
In essence, a health and fitness journey requires you
to adjust to your lifestyle before any results become apparent. However, it
would be best to refrain from making big, drastic changes, especially at the
beginning. The reason for this caution is to help you avoid becoming
overwhelmed, therefore jeopardizing your efforts before you've made any
significant progress.
Pro tip: use the 21-day rule as a guide to help you
keep track of and cement any changes you make.
Create A Positive Environment to Work In
Sometimes, your surroundings have a significant impact
on your willingness to act. Therefore, before you begin, create a space that
reinforces and inspires you to keep pushing and trying. For example, you can transform
your home into the ideal health and fitness-focused environment by dedicating a
space for workouts and changing the foods you keep stocked in your pantry and
fridge.
Seize the day, and don't delay starting your health and
fitness journey any further. Starting one today will lead to an improved
quality of life in the future. Remember to begin by making minor changes to
your diet and activity levels. If you need workout plans or exercise routines
suitable for beginners, there are plenty out there that give clear and concise
instruction. Alternatively, you may also consider joining a local sports club
where you can participate in group activities or take up new fitness routines
to keep your interest levels high.