Fitness is a lifestyle, it’s not a short-term fix or cure. It’s a constant, consistent state of healthier living. If you’ve decided to make this change, you’re ready to impact your life greatly. Like with all change, it won’t be easy. Your journey started the moment you realized what I’m doing isn’t helping.
Now you are on your way to making yourself even better. We all have our reasons for getting healthier, whether it’s to see your grandchildren grow up, make it long enough to walk your daughter down the aisle, or fed up with being unhappy. We’re all unique, and we all find what drives us down our fitness journey. In the meantime, here are five steps to keep in mind along the way.
Step #1. Turtle Race
As the title cleverly implies, your fitness journey will not be as we all want it to be, quick. I know, we all just sighed with you there. It’s going to take time, commitment, and a lot of patience.
But seriously…why would you want to rush at improving yourself?
We should all strive to create and evolve into the best possible version of ourselves. No matter how long it takes. So, it’s important not to forget that rushing through this will not yield you the results that you could have. Whatever those pesky numbers on the scale say, or how bad you just want to get to the finish line, remember to breathe. Your motivation will carry you as far as you want it to.
When you’re tired, sore, feel like you can’t breathe, or you don’t have the strength, remember all the reasons why you decided to do this.
- Was it because you had to catch your breath carrying in the groceries from the car?
- Was it because your favorite pair of pants suddenly became too tight on you?
We all have our reasons for why we want to improve our fitness. Let those reasons motivate you to conquer your fitness journey.
Step #2. Goals!
It wouldn’t make much sense to start something without knowing what you want at the end of it all, right?
Exactly.
Goals are your way of knowing that your hard work is paying off. You should always make continuous goals, from a daily, weekly, and monthly level.
- Daily goals should always attempt to do a small amount better than yesterday. Pushing to run fifteen second more, or one more push up.
- Weekly goals will provide you the ability to maximize your daily goals over the course of a week. Such as, wanting to walk for five minutes and run for additional one minute, three times a week.
- Monthly goals take how you started on day one, to what you’re capable of on day thirty. Such as, having lost five percent of your body weight; or averaging ten thousand steps a day throughout the month.
It’s key not to cheat yourself and your goals. We’ve all been there, some days we just want to lay around and yell at the remote for not changing the channel.
Moments like these, where it’s easier to quit and harder to get going…
These are the times to remember that you committed yourself to change, your goals are the proof that you want change. Short or long term, keep your goals on track, working continuously to build your fitness level up.
Step #3. Record Your Food
The biggest battle your results are going to be impacted on is your nutrition. More than half the battle of your journey will be with nutrition. It’s the never-ending struggle with so many things tasting so good and yet, are so bad for you.
You should always keep a journal or notebook handy, to record your meals and any snacking. Keep a strict log of what goes into your body, and remember to document portions of each entry. This will help to ensure you are aware of the foods you ate and will allow you to make changes regarding your diet, depending on feelings and lack of results.
Monitor cautiously to prevent back-sliding (reverting back to your troubled ways).
Having control of your nutrition is essential to staying on the right path and to enhance results. Don’t fear it, embrace it, and if you need to, fix it.
Step #4. Get & Stay Active
One of the best things you can do for your fitness is taking the long road.
We live in a time where our cars can take us anywhere relatively quick, and our homes are a beacon for broadcasting our favorite shows.
But for you, being committed to your fitness, you know changes must be made. Getting active and staying active will be a bit of a challenge for all of us. With work, family, travel, it’s hard to find the time to get much of what you want done. Especially finding time to stay in shape.
This is part of the problem!
Creating the time for fitness is much simpler than most of you will think.
- Try parking your car furthest from your work, now you force yourself to walk to and from work.
- Once you’re inside your work try using the stairs over the elevator.
Now you’ve created a small, healthier fitness option for yourself and still made it to and from work with a short workout under your belt. Using your everyday life and formatting it to find ways to get healthier are simple tricks.
- Try taking your family to park, getting everyone out moving, yourself especially.
- Taking the family to ride bikes or using the best exercise bike indoors is a fun yet stress relieving workout.
If you truly want to achieve your fitness goals, you will find everyday ways to stay active, even if time isn’t on your side. In addition to eating healthier, and getting active, incorporating weight training even once a week, will keep your muscles strong, and help you in fat loss.
Ladies you won’t be like the ‘Hulk’, unfortunately neither will you gentlemen…
Weight training is essential for our bodies to burn calories, get stronger, boost our metabolism. All which aid in weightless.
Weight training equipment like exercise bikes will be helpful to you in the long run. If you can’t afford going out or to do the regular routines like gyms, then you can choose this backup choice. Get the best spin bike at your house. In this way, you can’t give more excuses for running away from fitness. When you have an exercise bike at home, you can do exercises regularly also you have a timing flexibility which you won’t probably get in your gym or others. Also, your gym and cost of going to a training center/gym will tone down when you bring an exercise bike for yourself.
Step #5. Rewards
All that hard work is going to pay off for you.
Can you see it now?
Your rewards will be like seeing cake, it will make you so happy inside…. I know I mentioned cake and now we’re all thinking about it.
But your rewards will come in many ways. While on your journey, rewarding yourself with one day a month or one day every other week, a cheat day if you will.
A small reward that acknowledges your work, while keeping you not as bored or unhappy with your healthier lifestyle change. Make sure you don’t go entirely overboard, but don’t forget to enjoy.
As your journey continues, more and more rewards will slowly present themselves to you.
- Seeing a noticeable difference in the mirror when you check yourself out.
- Not feeling sluggish or tired anymore.
- Getting compliments and praise from family and friends about your results.
- Even buying a new outfit in your new size.
- Even noticing muscles and strength gains, and the ability to complete entire workouts or cardio routines.
Your results will speak for themselves in time. The rewards that come along with such a journey are what we are all after. The hard work put in now, only makes the end to much better.
Finally, every journey must start somewhere, yours starts now. Incorporating these steps into your fitness journey will assist you in accomplishing your goals. Remembering to take your time and follow your motivation. It will carry you, even when things seem impossible. Always look to find and adapt your normal life into your fitness. Force yourself to get up and get active, and stay active throughout the day. Your goals will be yours for the taking.
Remember to log your food, all meals, and learn from your body. You know how you felt when you ate it. Make changes where changes need to be made. Your nutrition success will lead to higher success in reaching your goals. The rewards from all your hard work are earned. Your cheat days will keep you honest, and the rest of your hard work will become more and more noticeable.
The results of your fitness journey are whatever you want them to be. It starts with the will to change, but the end will be up to you.