Five Steps to Getting in Shape and Feeling Good!

Having great health is a privilege and a blessing. Some of us need to work extra hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle given our demands on time for work and family and balancing life in general. The increasing fast paced lives we lead and trying to keep up with its high demands has limited our time to spend thinking about health, including what we put in our bodies and how we feel and look. Our overall health is significantly impacted by carrying extra unwanted weight and not eating balanced nutritional meals accompanied by lack of physical activity.

Five Simple Ways to Get in Shape and Feeling Good:

1)      Make the Intention: Only you can make changes that impact you and your body. Start with a positive intention to wanting to eat better, physically move more and make healthier choices. For an example, say, “today, I will make good choices for my health and take opportunities to be a better person.” Repeat daily or whenever you are tempted to get off track.

 

2)      Have a Plan: With busy lives, it’s easy to eat fast foods and spend countless hours on media. Just like we plan for school days and work days, you must learn to plan for your health. What will you eat today? This week? When will you exercise? What will you do? Gym? Walk? Dance? Join a Class? Plan your meals and pack them in advance or know how you will order (portion and calories in mind) at a restaurant. You have to think ahead and shop for food and make it, so you are not tempted to grab a greasy hamburger every time you are hungry. Surround yourself with healthy choices, ie having fruit and veggies around for snacks. Drink plenty of water.

 

 

3)      Be Consistent: Creating a lifestyle based on making healthy decisions can be time consuming  at first until it becomes a habit and it becomes your new way of life, how spend your time and what you spend money on. Be consistent and surround yourself with like-minded people who live similarly.

 

4)      Reward Yourself: Taking the initial steps to creating a healthy lifestyle, takes motivation and commitment.  Be sure to reward yourself in a fashion that is consistent with your new lifestyle. For an instance, reward yourself with a nice trip somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit! Buy yourself or someone you love a meaningful and practical gift. Or host a healthy dinner party! Incorporate your rewards with your changes as they occur.

 

5)      Re-evaluate Goals: If your goal has been to lose a certain amount of weight and once you’ve reached it, re-evaluate what it is that you hope to accomplish next. Every month, try to write down physical and mental health goals and hold yourself responsible for fulfilling them.  It’s difficult to change bad habits overnight but over time, we can. Self-accountability is key to feeling good about yourself in the long run.

 

We are in charge of our emotions and creating and meeting our personal health goals. With the right intention, practical planning, consistency and commitment, we will be better equipped to life our best lives possible. Life is short, why not live it to the fullest by making healthy choices and feeling good about ourselves?