Most of us want to keep fit and healthy, but some find it difficult to turn their thinking into reality by giving into food temptations, and not being able to squeeze enough exercise into their busy daily routine. If this is you, don’t give up! Starting with small changes, and then gradually building them into your life, could be the answer. Here are some of the things you should be thinking about if you want to turn things around.
Get moving
One of the best ways to keep in shape is to keep active. That doesn’t mean you have to run a marathon or go on a 50K cycle ride every day! Have a look at what kind of activity levels you have right now and think about how you can work in some exercise along the way.
For example, if you work, how do you get to the office each day? If the only exercise you’re getting is a few steps from the front door of your house to the car, and a few more into your place of work, then you should think about how you can change that. If you don’t live far from the office, then why not start walking? You don’t have to do it every day, at least not to begin with, but this could be an easy way of introducing some more activity into your daily routine.
Why stop at walking? If you’re feeling a bit more ambitious, you could always pull on a pair of running shoes and step up the pace!
You could also maybe walk one-way to the office, and then get the bus or another form of public transport home. Also, have you ever thought about jumping on a bicycle? Most companies have facilities to store your bike; some even have showers for when you arrive all hot and sweaty. Cycling is a great form of exercise and can be really enjoyable too, especially in the warmer months of the year when you can enjoy the passing scenery!
Get an active social life
Being active doesn’t have to be routine, you can make it fun by building it into your social life. So, alongside a bit of extra activity on the way to or from work, you could also start to play a sport on a regular basis; maybe with your colleagues, friends or family. How about starting up a weekly sports club for your office at the local leisure centre? You could organise badminton, squash, football or the like. You could all then go for a drink or meal after. By doing this sort of thing, you can help to take the dread factor out of being more active, and actually look forward to it as a social get-together!
You are what you eat
As the saying goes, ‘you are what you eat.’ If you’re looking to boost your health and fitness, then you also need to be looking at your diet alongside the amount of regular activity that you are getting. Are you one of these people that binge eats on fast food? Do you eat too much of the bad stuff and too little of the good stuff?
With most people feeling like there are not enough hours in the day for work and home life, it can be tough to plan-ahead with your meals. However, if you do, you can really make a change to your diet. Instead of running into the supermarket while dashing home from work, and grabbing the easiest meal available, you should be trying to have more of a structure in place. Therefore, over the weekend, try and find time to come up with some healthy meal ideas. You can always go online and look for inspirations; there are loads of ideas across a vast variety of websites and blogs. Try out new ingredients, you could check out hemp seeds for sale, for example.
When you’ve come up with your meal ideas for the week, then jot down the ingredients you need and buy them at the grocery store. If you have more time on your hands some days, then go for the more time-consuming meals those days. You could also always think about preparing food in bulk; this means making bigger portions that you can put in the fridge or freezer and then eat at a later date.
If you become overweight, it can leave you feeling depressed and lacking in energy and can heighten the risks of developing health conditions. Therefore, keeping in good health is important.
Watch what you drink
If you’re looking to boost your wellbeing, you’ll probably also want to take a look at what you’re drinking. If you like to go the bar a few times a week or drink lots of alcohol at the weekend, you may want to reconsider your habits. Having a high alcohol consumption can cause all sorts of health complaints, so you should take your intake seriously.
Ask for help
You shouldn’t be making immediate, massive changes to fitness and diet regimes without seeking advice first. If you’re serious about losing weight and eating more healthily, then book an appointment with your doctor or another health expert to get some tailored advice on what you should be doing. Everyone is different and you will need to consider what is best for you.
As well as getting advice, you could also have a top-to-toe health check, including a blood pressure test and weight measurement. Based on the results of this, your doctor could help you come up with a sustainable plan of action and advise you on the goals that you should be following. Sustainable is an important word here, as your health and fitness is a long-term thing. If you lose some weight because you’re tipping the scales in the wrong direction, you then need to keep it off in the long term. Similarly, if you start eating a healthier diet, you need to keep that up to maximise the health benefits.