Everyone wants to live a healthier life, but so often we just don’t have the time to make the healthiest decision every time. In fact, 30% of Brits admit they rarely or never exercise. And 20% say they’re too busy to manage their fitness properly. Building healthy habits can be a steep learning curve, and working full time or raising kids can hamper one’s ability to take the time to make good choices for themselves. While it does take some effort to start living more healthily, keeping in touch with your unique abilities and goals, making little daily changes, and building accountability into your routine are all great ways to make sure you stick to a plan and start to see results.
Fitness At Your Own Pace
The most important part of a lifestyle change is that you build good habits at a healthy speed. Just because you’re especially motivated at the beginning doesn’t mean you should make drastic changes that your mind and body can’t sustain.
Instead, put your extra energy into planning for the days when you won’t feel motivated. Cook and freeze healthy meals. Make future plans with friends to go for a hike. So, if you’re ever struggling for an excuse to make a bad decision, the healthy choice is the easiest choice.
Your goal should always be progress, whatever that looks like for you. Walk a thousand more steps than you did yesterday, skip the tube and walk to work, or use lime juice and dry spices instead of butter or creamy salad dressing to season your dinner. Not only are these easy to initiate and complete, but they’ll make you feel accomplished and keep your motivation up for the next decision you have to make. Building healthy momentum will eventually lead to you making healthy choices by default., This means less effort and more balance in the long term.
Keep It Real
You should also be realistic about what you can undertake and achieve. Unrealistic goals like ‘I’m going to lose two stone in a month!’ or ‘I’m only eating salads for dinner every day!’ sound great at the beginning. However, you won’t be able to accomplish them healthily. And the guilt of not being able to meet those goals might deter you from trying again in the future.
One easy way to stay on track without feeling deprived is to use the food-exercise-indulgence triad to find balance. Each day, pick two of the things in the triad to really focus on, and give yourself some leeway on the third. If it’s a friend’s birthday party and you want to have a drink and some cake, get in an early morning workout and make good food choices so you can indulge later without (or with less!) guilt.
The next day, if you’re hungover and not up for exercising, cut out indulgent alcohol and junk food and focus on healthy food and getting responsibilities out of the way so you have time to exercise the day after. You won’t feel deprived, but you’ll still be making a majority of your decisions in line with your goals. You can also use this as a week-to-week strategy, picking one week to workout every day, then one week to really focus on eating clean. This is a great way to fit healthy habits around your lifestyle and schedule.
Stay Accountable
Another important part of changing your lifestyle to be more balanced is to be accountable for your actions. If you’re doing the whole thing alone, no one will notice if you start slacking and your motivation will fade. Join a Sunday league football team (one set up for more than the social aspect!) or a running club, plan a weekly walk with friends or family, or work with a personal trainer who’s trained to help you see where you’re progressing and where you’re not. You can also use food tracking apps, or a wearable fitness tracker to keep on top of how many calories you’re burning and taking in. It might feel like you’re checking your account balance after a night out, but honestly taking a look at how you’re treating your body will make you take more responsibility for your fitness choices.
There’s lots of advice on the internet, but only some of it will be helpful and healthy for you. Write down a list of realistic goals, then do some research about the different ways you can start working towards them. Whether you need a personal trainer, a food shopping strategy, or just a kick in the right direction, taking account of your needs and abilities will help you build a realistic, sustainably fit lifestyle you can feel good about and stick to.
Contribution by Jane Townsend, Freelance Writer.