You hear stories about how people follow certain diets and how they lost weight but then weeks later they lose their progress. This is because your health and fitness should not be a “diet”, it is not a quick fix. The most successful people make it a lifestyle change. They chose to permanently create a healthy lifestyle for themselves.
Blow are some tips that can help you change your life for a healthier life.
Find What Works
Everyone is different. Everyone has different goals and different things that work for them. Find what works for you! Find what you think you will be able to stick with. For some that is going to the gym, realizing that its easier to focus away from home. Others may find they don’t have the extra time to travel to a gym and need a more accessible home program.
Set Goals
Set goals for yourself to complete, if your new start small. It takes 21 days to start a habit, so start with “I will workout 3 days a week for 30 minutes for 4 weeks.” By the end of the 4 weeks it should become easier to commit. At the end of your 4 weeks have a new plan, like “I will increase my workouts from 3 to 5 days a week for 30 minutes for 4 weeks”. Continue to always push yourself that extra step and no matter what do not quit! If you hit a plateau where your goals may not seem to be working as well as before than change up your routine a bit.
Read more about overcoming a weight loss plateau here.
Don’t Depend on a Scale
Avoid the scale when setting your goals, yes its good to monitor your weight but the scale doesn’t take in consideration your body changes. It doesn’t take in consideration that you are building muscle even if you are losing fat the numbers may not change as you expected. This often leads to disappointment which can lead to wanting to give up. Don’t give up! Think about how your body is changing as a whole. Do you feel like you have more energy? Do you feel stronger? Has your endurance improved? Do your pants fit better? These are the changes you want to feel in a fit lifestyle.
Stick to a Schedule
Find a time in your day that works the best for you. Think about when you are most productive and when you will get the best results. Are you a morning person? Than first thing in the morning might be better for you, get up early before the children and spouse so there is uninterrupted time for yourself. Not such a morning person? Then make it the first thing you do when you come home from work before you get sucked into the routine of house chores. Or wait till the kiddies go to bed and fit in an end of day 30 minute workout instead of going right to the couch to watch your shows.
Check out some time management tips here to help clear out your schedule!
Stop Making Excuses
Yes, life happens and there will be times that you will have to break away from your schedule. However, people make excuses to skip a workout or make unwise meal decisions more often than they should. Have children? Can’t get a minute alone? Let them join you! Make it a family fun moment. Really think about why you may have missed a workout. Think about the time wasters in your day and eliminate them. Find at home workouts vs the gym to save time in your day and you can still be home with the kids. Squeeze a workout in while you have a load of laundry in the washer. Move your health near the top of your priority list.
Hold Yourself Accountable
Create a food diary, track what you are eating and how many calories you are actually consuming. Tracking your food really makes you think about what you are eating and how much of it. Make a calendar that you can track your progress. Mark each day you workout, stay under your calorie goals. Set a schedule to take you measurements periodically so you know that you are going to have to log your progress you have made for that time frame. This will help push you to see results before that measurement period. Personally I like to do this at the end of every month, giving myself a monthly challenge. Join an accountability group with others like you (Join my Free FitFriends Group here!) You can share your story, post your results, see what others are doing to complete their goals and what they are doing to over come their struggles.
Comments
I have started really following similar tips and I agree that a better life awaits at the end. The lifestyle you create determine your destination, I will bookmark this to assist me when I’m needing a pep up!
Excuses are the worst part of anythimg, but with the good will everything can happen. Great post!
http://www.theninebyivana.blogspot.com
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Excuses can truly be your worst enemy.
Good ideas! I love the visual showing 5 lbs of fat vs 5 lbs of muscle. So true about a lifestyle change. When you think of it this way, small setbacks won’t make you want to give up.
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Exactly! It used to be a down hill spiral for me when I had a set back but now I just try and start the next day fresh.
I´m still learning what works for me, especially when it comes to the what to eat and what not to. These 6 tips are a great reminder to help anyone who wants a healthy lifestyle stay on track. I loved that you included the part where you mention not to depend on the scale! I think out of all my lifestyle changes I´ve made, that´s the most helpful one! At least for me. Thanks so much for sharing these tips!
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You’re Welcome! Yes that is my favorite tip too! It is really always a learning curve, you just continue to improve.
Thanks Tiffany. Good tips. I am an excuse maker. I need to focus on me and the big picture, health, energy, and happiness. You are right, life will always get in the way of every plan, but even if we just add additional movement to our day, like adding running up/down stairs 5-6 times when putting in laundry, that helps too. It might at least start getting you use to exercising without it seeming like exercising, thus motivating you to move more each day. And before you know it, you are making better food choices and are working out 3-5 days a week for 30 min. 🙂
Great tips- setting small goals and schedules are so important to stay on track and organized!
These are all so simple, yet very effective. 🙂
When I finally learned how to make being healthy a part of my lifestyle it worked. I’ve done everything you said here and I keep a good work out schedule. Ive used social media a great deal to keep me accountable and I’m in the best health and shape of my life!
Great advice…there are things I have to work on that you mentioned…like sticking to a schedule LOL
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Hahaha yes! It works when you have to go to work. You stick to a schedule and you make it there.
You can’t stress enough how important it is to find what works best for the individual! Being health should fit into our lifestyle!
Thanks for this great post.
xoxo
A
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Right! Everyone is so different. Different things work for each person.
Yep! You won’t be successful till you apply and are consistent with all your tips!
I love the ideas, it really is important to find what works best for you!
I really can’t hear this enough because there’s always something new to learn. I certainly live a quite a healthy lifestyle. Working out for me is a necessity in order to do all the things I want to do. But after awhile you get bored doing the same thing. I appreciate all the suggestions in this post. Thanks!!
Yes to all of these! And most importantly, find something you enjoy doing :). It may change, it may not be perfect, but you gotta find the exercise and eating styles that make you happiest and healthiest.
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Yes! I found myself in a rut recently and decided to join a climbing gym to get my workouts in for awhile. Just to switch it up.
Great tips. I recently changed the way I eat and feel so much better!
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Yes! When really being consistent and then having a “bad” weekend, you actually feel the difference. When eating you healthier tend to feel more awake and active.
I’ve been. Ores with my current routine so I’m trying to change things up a little bit.
My cousin and I were just discussing this very topic. We live together, and we were doing so well – eating at regular times, exercising, etc… then for one reason or another, we just stopped. We both noted that we felt better when we were being consistent and have vowed to get back on track. I wouldn’t call it a diet, it’s definitely a lifestyle change.
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It’s great that you have someone on board with you! It really helps having a partner keep you on track, especially in the beginning.
Every woman and man I’ve ever known that decided just work on losing weight and stopped doing all the wonderful habits they put in place stopped after reaching their goal. I too fell into this trap when I was in my 20’s. Until 12 years ago when I saw a picture of myself that shocked me into embracing a lifestyle change. I lost 70lbs and I’ve kept it off since.
Absolutely love these tips! It’s so important that we find what works for us and there’s no one size fits all!
These are great tips and I love the emphasis on making a solid lifestyle change rather than just getting in on the latest diet fad. Not only because it’s the very best way to achieve sustainable results, but also because it should be about healthy changes, not just the number on a scale or a pair of jeans.
I’m working on getting better at this. I do try to jog daily, hit 10,000 steps, and drink a lot of water.
I agree with all of this! Get fit quick schemes won’t ever work, not in the long run anyways. Being fit and healthy has to be a lifestyle, a frame of mind that sticks forever. Great article!
Having a schedule is a great way to stay on track. I have been trying to eat healthier and work out more for 2017.
I totally agree with these helpful tips especially the Don’t Make excuses part. This is very inspiring!
For me, it is accountability whether through a food journal or someone else that makes a difference. That and I know myself. I have an all or nothing personality so I know what I have to make off-limits to me.
I love that you are doing this for YOU and not because of what others say to you or about you. being healthy should always start with YOU or it will never work. NO matter how pretty or “fit” someone is there is always something negative we all have flaws and that’s okay. It should be about learning to love our flaws and embracing them. If you are not happy with something it should be up to you to change it not other people. Thanks for sharing and good luck on your Journey, I’m sure your tips will help!
These are amazing tips. I truly need to get my mindset together. Without a great mindset, in wanting to complete these goals then you will never be able to do it.
So important! I continue to fall off the bandwagon because I don’t set goals for myself
I found after going vegan my healthy lifestyle fell into place. Just need to convince myself to do some exercise.
I like the idea of setting goals, as I have to admit that I diarized exercise but still haven’t managed to fit it in!
These a great tips! I remember when I first started working out I had gained wait and was so confused as to how. I later learned that you gain muscle which will cause you to weigh more. It’s not necessarily about the number on the scale but about being healthy and fit.
Good tips. I think, though, that there are many people who can only start with one of those lifestyle changes at a time. And sometimes the things that are connected to other things. Taking the food diary and making it a mindfulness journal where you not only track food, but, connect it to moods and events happening that may be influencing eating choices could be helpful.
Your list was comprehensive, easy to read & understand, as well as based on solid principles. Thank you for writing it out.
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I agree! Sometimes you need to just do one step at a time and just keep improving as you go.
good tips, scheduling and avoiding mistakes makes it a perfect one, this makes alot of sense for one who desires the healthy lifestyle, so good one for everyone if you ask me.
These are very nice tips. Haha I should be following a few of these. xx
lovely! brilliantly simple but powerful suggestions especially the scale one. this will help greatly
These are all great tips. And you look amazing so I’ll pretty much follow any suggestion you make haha.
Some wonderful tips here! My favourites are stop making excuses, I hear those far too many times!
I agree with you 100%! Dieting really isn’t something I believe in because I see it as a deprivation tactic which can haunt you back when you start craving.
Stop making excuses and holding myself accountable might be one of my struggles. i want to cycle more and I have to stop procrastinating about it.
Great tips these! It can be so hard to focus on being healthy with the busy world we live in, but it’s so important to make the time for it.
I have always struggled with sticking to a schedule and eating healthy. I should be more careful. Thanks for the motivation.
Still working on the Stop Making Excuses:) I have a few left but I really need to make a change soon. Thanks for the reminders:)
Funny, as this is one of my currently goals so this came RIGHT one time and was filled with some down to earth reasonable info do make it happen. Thanks for the tips!
With so many diets and exercises these days, you definitely have more options to find what’s right for you when it comes to fitness. I think it’s really important that you do because it’s easier to stick to a diet and a routine when you feel comfortable in it.
These are all wonderful tips and I know so many people who could benefit from this post!
These are all great tip. For me, I start a fitness goal challenge which has been extremely beneficial.
I’ve found that having an accountability partner, going through the same things, helps me keep accountable for my health (or other aspects of my life), I highly recommend this!
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Love that! Having a partner to keep you on track and even compete a little with is a great way to stay moving.
I need this in my life. I’m stuck at the first stop which is ‘find something that works’. I get into what I think is a groove but, one off day and everything completely unravels. I guess I shouldn’t be so hard on myself.
This is a great post that serves as a wonderful reminder! After baby number 3 I’ve been determined to live healthier! I joined a boot camp program to help me lose weight and just feel better and have more energy!
I’ve lost a little over 30lbs this year and I think all of these tips are part of why I was finally able to do it. The biggest was holding myself accountable and for me that meant hiring a professional. It’s funny what a putting money up and having someone make you step on a scale 3 times a week will do to keep you honest and on track.
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