First Steps to Being Healthy
During one of our Open Sky Fitness Walking Club walks, someone brought up their struggles with being able to stick to a healthy lifestyle. This is a common concern. How do you juggle your job, kids, a social life and a relationship and still eat healthfully and find time to exercise? There’s just not enough time in the day to fit everything in
There’s no trick to it. There’s no “big secret” that someone is just not sharing with YOU. Living a healthy life is a choice. You make the choice to go to work or you choose to take a shower in the morning(at least I hope you do), so why would exercising and eating healthfully be any different. You have to choose to make yourself a priority. Nobody else is going to feed you vegetables and hold your hand as you step onto that treadmill. It’s up to you to choose to do the right thing for your body.
Is it easy? Hell no! Is it possible? Bet your ass!
Take it one step at a time. The mistake most people make is trying to change everything all at once. New Years is a prime example of that. People who decide to eat healthfully and go to the gym right after New Years almost always fail. They haven’t created the groundwork necessary to sustain that lifestyle. Sure they might be able to stick to it for a couple weeks or maybe even a month if they’re luck, but then things start falling apart.
When you’re ready to make a lifestyle change, start small and work your way up to making it a larger part of your life. If working out 3 times a week is just too much to handle right now, try finding one hour a week. We can all find one hour in a week to squeeze in a workout. You notice that when you’re ready to take on a second hour, space will open up for you.
But I don’t want to eat salad everyday, Rob! I know, I know. I’d get sick of salads if I ate them everyday as well, but try adding in two vegetable servings a day as a way to kick off eating healthfully. I’m not talking about carrots and corn, I’m talking about dark leafy green veggies, like broccoli, spinach or kale. These vegetables are packed with vitamins and minerals that will fuel your body with the energy it needs to get through the day.
Start there and start slow. You’ll be feeling better and looking great in no time!
