3 Ways to Start Being Healthy in 2022
We are four weeks into the New Year. Hopefully, you have crafted attainable New Year’s Resolutions and working on those resolutions. If you are not and have not been able to keep up with your Resolutions, there is always time to start again. It does not matter if you it is the first day of the new year or not. We can start today. You can start tomorrow or next week. The takeaway is that you can start when you are ready. And I hope that you are ready today if not soon.
The most popular New Year’s resolutions are eating healthy, starting to go the gym regularly, or to lose 10 pounds. These are all great resolutions. Improving your health is an important goal to have. It is one of those goals that takes time to achieve. Lowering of cholesterol levels, the shedding of 10 pounds, and the gaining of chiseled muscles does not happen overnight. It takes time. Change that is permanent or substantial takes time. I think that is why most people give up on the New Year’s resolutions. After a week or two of not seeing any results, he or she give up. And I get it. I get frustrated when I do not see the results I was hoping to see. Is human nature to feel frustrated and feel like you want to give up. That moment that you chose to continue instead of giving up is when you see and feel changes. You get to decide whether you stay frustrated or improve your life
I have listed 3 tips to keep you on track with your health and fitness goals for this year. These tips have worked for me in the past. I hope these tips help you on your health and fitness journey. Remember, sometimes it is easier to complete your goals when you have a partner to help keep you accountable.
1. Decide what your health/fitness goals are.
What is that you want to accomplish? Do you want to lose 10 pounds, have lean muscles, or be able to complete a 5k? Find out what it is you want to accomplish. What do want to see yourself do? How do you see yourself in 3, 6, or 12 months? Can you identify the colors, smells, sounds of the future image of yourself? When you close your eyes and think about your goal, what do you see? Ok, so that is a lot of imagery, but it will help you not just get a clear picture of what you want to accomplish but what it will feel like once you do.
Once you have a vision of your goal and you completing that goal, you need to write a plan of how you will attain this goal. What needs to happen for you to become that person in your vision? One of the best ways to do figure out what you are going to do is to do your research. You can look up books at Amazon, find podcasts on the subject, or find a Facebook group. You do not have to invent the wheel when devising your plan. Most likely there are other people who have had the same goal or similar goal. Who do you whether in real life or online that was accomplished something like what you want to accomplish? If he or she has an online presence, follow them on social media. If they have blog, subscribe to his or her blog. Follow his or her journey, connect with them via email and ask him or her your questions.
2. Journal/Track your progress
Keeping a journal whether is a hardback journal or one on your phone, keep a daily account of your journey. Maybe you are keeping track of how many glasses of water your intake daily, or maybe you are food journaling. Journaling will not only keep your present and focused on your goal but when you are two or three weeks into completing your goal you can look back and see your progress. For example, on Day 1 you could only walk a quarter of a mile but now on Day 10 you are walking half a mile. That’s progress and when you review your past entries you can relive how you were feeling that day and say, “wow, I cannot believe how much I have grown over the last few days.”
If you are an app person, there are some great apps to track your fitness journey. This is a great tool to keep you focuses and to see your progress.
a. One app is Productive-Habit Tracker. They have challenges and allow you to analyze your performance. This app also allows you to get reminders.
b. MyFitnessPal. This app has a subscription but if the need to have this kind of app is what you want, then the cost is worth it. This app includes the ability to track a food diary, save recipes, and the app can provide advice and tips.
c. Happy Scale. I just love the name of this app. Happy Scale obviously tracks your weight, but it shows you trends of the past weeks. You can also punch your target weight and calculates how much more weight you need to lose to get to your target weight.
3. Join a group to keep you accountable
One of the ways that I have found to be successful in reaching a fitness goal is to join a group. As we are still in a pandemic, many in-person groups have adapted and have on online presence. The purpose of belonging to a group is to be able to get advice or reach out to someone in the group when you are struggling. The group is there to help you stay focused. Many times, there people in the group that may be a few steps ahead of you and that is great! They may have a little bit more experience than you, but they can guide you and mentor you.
Have you checked out all the groups in Facebook? Facebook groups really started talking enough when the pandemic hit, and these groups are still going strong. I run a group call the Southeast Texas 100 Mile Club. I started the group because I wanted to run 100 miles in the month of August, my birth month. I was not successful in obtaining my 100 miles that month so that October I started to run 100 miles again. This time, I knew I needed support. I started the SETx 100 Mile Club because I needed a group. I knew I wanted to reach 100 and this was one of the ways I knew how. This group has developed over the last year. Many more local and not-so-local runners have joined. I have added different challenges each month. I provide inspiration quotes to keeps all of us focused and conversational starters for the runners to participate in.
I encourage you to think about developing your own Facebook group or online group to help keep you focused on your goal. You never know who is just waiting for your group to pop online so her or she can join. If you have a need you are not the only one. There is someone in the same town, the next town, across the state who is waiting for someone like YOU to start a fitness or non-fitness group. A group that you all share the same goal. You all have the same respect for each other. You all praise each other when there are highs and console each other when there are lows.
I hope today’s blog helps motivate you to get on track with your fitness and health goals. And who care if it is the 24th of January. Who cares if you have messed up your goals already? The fact that you have stopped to evaluate your situation and you realize that you want more is the first step and the BIGGEST step. You just must decide what you want, is the time for you to get it, and how you plan on getting it. Have a great Monday and we will see you soon!
To check out my SETx 100 Mile Club, click on the button below.