how to get started on a healthy life style
This is one of the most frequent questions I get from people.
Here are three suggestions on how to start your way to a healthier lifestyle.
Begin to make a small change today.
Don’t wait until tomorrow, don’t put it off – make a change today.
Many people go to the grave full of regret over things they wanted to do and changes they wish they had made.
I suggest that you start by making one small change you can sustain so that it becomes part of you lifestyle. Too often people want to change everything at once and it’s unsustainable. Two examples: all the people who gets a gym membership as a New Year’s resolution but have stopped going by the end of January (or earlier!), and people who jump into a restrictive diet, fall out (because the can’t sustain it), binge, and end up worse than they started (no carbs anyone??). 🙂
Realize that you are a whole person.
At some point, you have to address all aspects of your being: physical, mental, and spiritual. To have a truly healthy lifestyle and be healthy and balanced in any area you will have to balance in all areas. This means looking at the things you eat, the activity you get, staying healthy from a mental standpoint, and working on the spiritual part of your being. Again, I suggest that you start one small (sustainable) step at a time so that these changes become a part of your lifestyle.
Lifestyle
This really is the most important thing.
If you can’t or don’t or won’t sustain changes you make in your life, it won’t matter.
Quitting smoking for a week doesn’t matter if you go right back to your three pack a day habit. Being on a diet for a week or a month or a year doesn’t matter if you go right back to the same lifestyle you had before the “diet” (see diets don’t work).
Incorporate small changes, one step at a time, into your daily life so that they become a part of your lifestyle. Make small changes, enjoy and experience the benefits, and layer on another change. Every person is different, you might be able to make changes faster than others – or not. What matters is that you make lasting changes to the way you live.
Questions about anything in this post – leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!