When you finally decide to change your lifestyle it can be overwhelming to know where to start! Here are my top 4 things to focus on when trying to get healthy.
Number 1 – Consistency
Start with small habits that you can change and stick to them.
If you are just starting, here are some ideas:
- Drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day
- Take a multi-vitamin and Omega each day
- Eat 1 fresh vegetable a day (more is even better!)
- Eat Protein at every meal
- Use a smaller plate and be mindful of your portions
- Keep a food log – don’t worry about what it says in the beginning. Just write down what you eat. It’s eye opening to see it all together.
These are just ideas! Choose 1-2 things that you think you can do for two to three months without fail. After 60-90 days, the new habit should be part of your routine without really even thinking about it. This is when you can start adding on with additional modifications to your daily routine. You don’t want to change everything at once, that’s when everything is out of your comfort zone and it becomes easy to give up. In Finally Fit, my healthy lifestyle course, I teach ways your can improve your health, why the method is important to implement, and walk through exactly how you can start practicing. The course is 8 weeks long with single topics each day to keep the info easy to process and understand. We start with the basics and build into more advanced info as your knowledge grows.
Changing how you live for a couple of days or weeks is good but if you want to feel better long term it is imperative that you change your day to day way of life. Of course you will have days that you fall off but bouncing back to the core Healthy Habits is imperative!
Number 2 – Food
You should be eating whole foods, limiting dairy, alcohol, and caffeine. Foods that are processed and packaged are often stripped of nutrients and filled with chemicals, look for foods with short ingredient lists and words you can pronounce. You also should be eating a balance of Protein, Fats, and Carbs. Most clients come to me eating too little protein and way too many carbs each day. In Finally Fit we work through how many calories and the Protein, Fats, and Carbs you personally should be eating but even just becoming aware of what macronutrients (Proteins, Fats, and Carbs) you are consuming can have an impact on your health.
Number 3 – SLEEP!
Sleep is right there with food as far as importance. That’s because the amount of sleep you get plays a big part in your appetite, how you handle stress (who’s guilty of emotional eating? ?), and how you store fat. If you don’t have enough sleep you’ll be more likely to overeat, choose sugar for quick energy, and have little willpower when temptations come your way. As busy women it is common for us to cut into our sleeping window to complete our “To Do” list but the amount of sleep you get is essential to improving your health.
Number 4 – Exercise
Listing this as number 4 does NOT mean that exercise isn’t important, it IS important but if you are working on a complete overhaul on your lifestyle it is better to focus on consistently eating the right foods and getting a full night’s rest first. You can start small by taking the stairs instead of the elevator or parking your car farther away, fitness trackers also have helpful reminders to get up and moving throughout your day. When you are ready to ease into allotting some time specifically for exercise, again, start small. Don’t do high intensity exercise 7 days straight if you’ve never worked out before. Start with a short workout that incorporates both resistance training and some cardio a couple of days a week. As your body (and mind) adjust to the new routine you can begin to increase your weights and frequency of your workouts. If you don’t know where to start try workout DVDs or search YouTube videos for ideas. Finally Fit has 30 minute workouts with beginner and advanced options you can complete at home or in the gym. Three days a week you receive a quick video demonstration along with modifications if you need low impact or are building your strength. Resistance training will help you build muscle (more muscle means you burn more calories!), gain strength, reduce arthritis and back pain, and even has been found to have effects on your attitude and reducing depression! You probably know that cardio is great for maintaining or losing weight, reducing stress, and strengthening your heart and lungs. If you are short on time find a workout that incorporates both weights and cardio to get the benefits of both and more bang for your buck!
There are many moving pieces that contribute to living a healthy life. You won’t be able to master them all at once and that’s okay! You’ll find some things are easier to change than others so you may have to change your game plan for a bit, come back and try again. Give consistent effort, get good sleep, eat less processed food, and move more, those are my top tips to kicking off your new healthy lifestyle!
