It's so easy to make excuses to not live in a healthy way. Working out takes time, the gym is intimidating, healthy food is costly.... And I'm not going to lie or sugar-coat anything. To me, all these excuses are crap. Yes, there are things that can make being healthy a little more difficult, but they are only obstacles if you let them be. I believe in overcoming obstacles and using willpower to drive the process.
It all starts with a decision. That decision is to turn your life around and give yourself a better future. We all know that by living healthy, chances are, we will live a longer life with less risk of health issues down the line. So why do we not give ourselves that chance to live a long life? Well I do know why. It's a lot of work. But, it's worth it. We need to stop making excuses and just do the things that will be good for us in the long haul. Go for a run, eat a fruit instead of a bag of chips, practice self-care. Living a healthier life isn't necessarily something that is easy to do one day to the next. There are steps involved and it does take some dedication. But I know that if you set your mind to it, you can do it! The following steps are what I believe to be the essential things that you need to start a healthier lifestyle, as well as some extra tips that definitely help!
1. Choose Your WHY
The reason why you are choosing to make a conscious effort to live a healthier lifestyle is extremely important. Your why will serve as your motivator and as a reminder to live your best life. It's easy to say, "I will start working out". Why do you feel like you should start working out? Determine if you are doing it to lose weight, have more energy, have more confidence, as a hobby. Now, I may talk a lot about the gym in this post because that's the biggest change that I made in my life that I feel has really made a difference. However, making healthy lifestyle changes includes your diet, your self-care, your environment... Really anything that benefits you and your wellbeing, whether that by physical, mental or spiritual. I cannot stress enough to make this life changing decision for the right reasons. Sure, wanting to start working out to lose weight is fine, but if you feel that you need to lose weight to make your boyfriend happy or just to get romantic attention, now I see a problem there. I'd feel better about my friends telling me "I want to lose weight to feel more confident to talk to boys". I still think you should be doing things for yourself, but your actions are tying back to your confidence, not someone else sexual attraction to you. Those who know me know that I encourage my friends to know their self-worth and that if a man doesn't see that, they shouldn't be in the picture. Make changes to feel good in your own skin, not to make someone else happy. Because at the end of the day, I can guarantee that you won't be.
My Why: I've always been an active person. I can't really remember a time in my life where I wasn't doing some sort of team sport of physical activity. Being active has always been incredibly important to me. Because of this lifestyle and other genetic reasons, I've always been lean. When puberty hit, I started filling out a bit, which was perfectly normal. Then, when I started working at Tim Hortons in high school, I was eating junk far too often. I definitely can say I noticed a change in my body. However, I was still very active, so it wasn't so bad. I carried those habits with me to university and got so busy and tired with school, that I didn't give myself much time for physical activity. Eating healthy is also quite difficult when your student residence doesn't have a full kitchen and you're on a meal plan at a university with very limited healthy food options. Thankfully, that has changed, and the future generations of students won't have to settle for pizza and burritos. In my third year of school, I partnered up with a friend (I will talk about this more later in this post!) and signed up for a gym membership. We were going fairly consistently, and I did notice a difference. Unfortunately, going twice a week and then having weeks that I only went once or not at all, it wasn't enough. Back in December, I decided it was time for a change. I wanted to test my willpower and dedication and really push myself to going three to five times per week and doing more weight lifting based workouts. Work was also starting to get really stressful and I knew that this extra amount of physical activity could be a great form of stress relief. I decided to start working towards a body that made me feel strong, confident, powerful, proud and sexy. Seeing the progress and muscle definition starting to come in has really boosted my morale. I'm very excited to keep pushing myself, see change and set new goals. Which brings me to my next point.
2. Set A GOAL
It's so easy to just say "I'm going to start working out", "I'm going to eat salad for dinner" or "I'm going to stop eating out so often. What's holding you accountable to those promises. It's such a vague thing to say. You're going to start working out? When? Are you going to start three weeks from now, or today? How many times per week are you dedicating yourself to hit the gym? These precisions matter. I firmly believe that setting a goal with a number helps to keep track of progress and efforts. If you say I will work out three times per week, it's easy to keep track of that and as the week goes on you can see where you might be slacking a little. If by Thursday, you haven't been yet... You're running out of time in your week. Remember your goal and get back on track. A goal can also be set by signing up for an event. By signing up for a race that's six months away, you may be more inclined to training for it, right? If you set a goal to lose a certain amount of weight, it is easy to track and see your progress. Goals are great motivators to get out and make a change! My tip is to write it down somewhere that you can see it every day. I wrote down my new year's resolutions on a paper that is on my fridge. Every day, I am reminded to stick to my workout plan, to cook more and healthier and to drink more water. It's kind of like having a nagging mom around, that maybe annoys you a tiny bit, but you also know she's right and you should listen.
My goal: I decided at the end of December that I would run a half marathon this year. This would be my second. Because of this and how the first one went, a lot of my friends laughed a tiny bit. Not because they didn't think I was capable, but because it's a little crazy and a half marathon is a considerable distance to run. The first time I did it, I told myself I would train for it, but I didn't really set a training plan for myself that I was able to keep track of. Big mistake. I maybe ran half the distance and almost passed out several times. This year, I am committing to working out at the gym to build strength on top of running a set amount of times per week, increasing distances as time goes on, to be ready for the Army Run by September. I also have a plan to help hold myself accountable to training, which I will talk about in the next point.
3. PLAN It Out
I am a very organized person. I like planning out my time and knowing how the next few days will look like. Planning out your healthy lifestyle changes can help stay on track and visualize what you need to be doing effectively make the change. Whether that plan is a meal plan, a training plan, or whatever other type of plan it may be, it helps visualize how the days will go along and know what to do next. Meals plans are super effective because you won't be stuck at the last minute wondering what to make for dinner and settle for chicken nuggets for the third night in a row. With a training plan, you can know to expect leg day on a certain day and know what to do once you get to the gym. Winging it isn't always the best way to go.
My plan: Training for a half marathon isn't something I will be able to do overnight. There is also a rather large period where I will be able to train. If I only sign up for this race in September, I know that I will tell myself that I can start training next week, and when next week comes I can push it back a little more, because heck, the race is five months away anyways! This year, my plan is to sign up for more races, increasing in distance each time, so that I can hit a checkpoint in my schedule and know that I am progressing in distance and endurance. The plan is to run a 10km race in May, a 15km race mid-summer, and then the half marathon (21.1km) in September. I can focus on each distance as the next race approaches. By the time September comes, the half marathon should basically be a breeze. At least I hope... I need to stick to my plan!
4. Use the BUDDY SYSTEM
Let's be real, working out alone and taking on a challenge alone can be kind of boring at times. It's also much easier to make excuses. I know that there have been days in the past where I told myself I would go to the gym, and if I wasn't really fired up for it, I just wouldn't go. No one was expecting me to be there, so why do I absolutely need to go? First, it's a poor excuse. Hold yourself accountable for the things you say you'll do. BUT, by using the buddy system, there is someone else to motivate you and hold you accountable for your promises. You'll know that you're not alone in it, you'll get to see a friend and have fun at the same time.
My buddy: To this day, two years after starting to go to the gym with my friend Britt, I still enjoy going with her because she pushes me a little harder and gives me new ideas for workouts. Plus, even if I'm not totally pumped to go to the gym, I said I would go, and I don't like cancelling plans. I've never regretted going to the gym with her. I know it can be hard to be motivated sometimes but being active with friends is not only good for your physical health, but your mental health too!
5. Take BABY STEPS
I know how when you get excited and feel a burst of motivation, you suddenly want to make radical changes. You'll suddenly cut meat out of your diet and try squatting 200 pounds. Slow down. You don't need to be so drastic with your changes and you certainly shouldn't push yourself to the point where you can risk getting hurt. It's important to take things slow and again, plan it out. I can say from experience that by taking on too much too fast, it's easier to get discouraged when it's too hard.
My baby steps: When I started doing squats with the barbell, of course I was tempted to add weight to it. However, I knew that that was a good way to injure myself right off the bat. So, I started doing squats with the bar on its own. Even though the bar only weighs 45 pounds, it felt surprisingly heavy! I wasn't used to this kind of exercise and knew that it was something that I could progress with. I'll do three sets of eight to ten reps. With each set, I will add weight. Initially, I was adding ten pounds at a time. Now, I'll increase a little more with each rep, at what feels comfortable. Again, baby steps. There's no point in pushing yourself too hard, hurting yourself, and then being out of the game all together.
In Conclusion
Don't expect miracles. Making the shift to a healthier lifestyle takes time and effort. But with a little bit of motivation and hard work, it's totally possible to make that change. Always remember the boatload of benefits that come with making that decision and working towards it. Also remember to be forgiving with yourself and allow some space for balance. Eating healthy is important for your overall health but treating yourself is important for your soul.
I would love to hear about how you intend on making changes! Or tell me about the changes you've made and how it has impacted your life! Leave your comments down below!