Everyone wants to look and feel their best, but not everyone is motivated to do what's necessary to get there. To look and feel your best at any given age, it's important to develop healthy habits that include eating healthy foods, maintaining a healthy weight and exercising on a regular basis.
Getting Motivated
A big part of building a healthy lifestyle is getting and staying motivated, but why is it so difficult for so many people? You know that you need to do it, but it often feels like an overwhelming task. Change is hard for a lot of people. It's much easier for most people to come up with excuses for not making changes rather than to just make them. Those endless excuses exhaust a lot of your energy that you could be putting toward healthy lifestyle changes.
Whether you need to change your eating habits, diet to lose weight, exercise more to get in shape, or develop an overall plan for healthy habits, you have to develop the right mind-set to get and stay motivated if you want to accomplish your goals.
Eating Healthy Foods
A healthy diet is not just for losing weight. It means eating the right quantities of foods from all the basic food groups that contribute to a healthy lifestyle. A healthy diet is a balanced diet, made up of the five main food groups – protein, dairy, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fats and sugars. Developing a healthy diet will help you feel better, have more energy, increase brain power and stabilize your mood. Make a plan for success with these motivational tips to build healthy habits:
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Put up a photo – find a photo of yourself when you looked fit, thin and in great shape. Put it up on your fridge as a reminder of the difference that healthy habits can make.
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Reward yourself – when you want those donuts, but you have a healthy salad instead, put $1 in the fit bank (piggy bank, jar or can). When the money adds up, reward yourself with something new you've been wanting.
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Post-it notes – put post-it notes on the fridge and in the pantry to avoid late night snacks. Make reminders that eating those brownies will result in weight gain in the wrong places.
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Tester jeans – when you feel like cheating with unhealthy foods, grab your tester jeans (ones that fit like a glove when you were in shape). Put them on to judge your body size and keep you motivated to eat healthy and stay in shape.
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Check yourself out – if you're having a hard time staying motivated, stand in front of a mirror. Remember that eating unhealthy foods will trigger weight gain and hinder your mission of getting in shape.
Dieting and Weight Loss
Dieting is hard work and not really much fun for most people. Perhaps you've reached your weight loss peak and you're easily tempted by those chocolate cookies in the cupboard, so you eat a few. If you derail your diet plan too often, it will take a physical and emotional toll on your motivation to diet. Permanent weight loss means developing healthy habits that lead to long-term goals. It can be a slow process so don't get discouraged.
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Set goals – set attainable benchmarks like dropping one dress size or losing 5 pounds in 30 to 60 days. Anticipate realistic weight loss of one to two pounds per week. This will give you motivation to continue.
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Go slow – if you lose weight slowly, you have a better chance of keeping it off. If you expect too much too soon, you're likely to get frustrated with your diet plan. Learning healthy eating habits takes time.
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Be patient – if you hit the dreaded weight loss plateau when the scale stops dropping and just seems stuck, be patient and remember that this is a natural part of weight loss. You may want to try expending an extra 100 calories with a brisk walk.
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Talk to a buddy – when you're dieting, support from family, friends and co-workers can keep you motivated. Finding a buddy in an online diet chat forum or at the gym greatly improves your odds for successful healthy habits.
Exercise and Fitness
Regular exercise is crucial to staying fit and active, especially as you age. According to CDC guidelines, adults need 2 1/2 hours of moderate-intensity exercise each week. That can be jogging or running 15 minutes a day or a 30-minute walk five days a week. Whatever type of exercise you choose, it's important to get motivated, get off the sofa, and get it done.
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Set weekly goals – if you can't walk 30 minutes a day, start out with 15 minutes a day and gradually add more time and intensity to your routine. If you're not use to regular exercise, expect to feel tired in the beginning but realize that your energy will eventually increase.
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Make a schedule – with a busy lifestyle, it's easy to get sidetracked with daily interruptions from family and work. Add physical activities to things you already do at home or with your kids. Petal a stationary bike while watching TV or take a bike ride after dinner with your kids.
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Do something you enjoy – you don't have to work out at the gym to stay fit. You can walk the dog, shoot hoops with the kids, walk to the store, go for a jog or swim in the pool. There's many things to do – just keep moving! A walk after dinner every night helps control your weight, builds muscles, strengthens bones and reduces your risk for diabetes and heart disease.
Remember, building healthy habits for a healthy body takes time, but you have to get health motivated to start and stay motivated to continue. Develop a plan and a system that works for you to create a happier, healthier lifestyle for yourself.
