When you first feel the need to begin a new health kick, it can feel like your motivation is at max level, and you’re ready to start changing yourself and the world right there and then. However, as time goes on, as it gets demanding, as you have to commit to it more and more, it’s easy for that motivation to start running out. This is when you need to learn that you can’t rely on your own get-up-and-go alone. You have to implement your lifestyle changes as part of a habit that you carry with you. Here are a few tips on how to do just that.
Set your morning alarm
A good morning routine is vital. As they say, you should start the day right. When you start the day with a good decision, like getting up early, grooming and brushing your teeth, and eating a healthy breakfast, it makes it a lot easier to avoid making bad decisions throughout the day as it goes on, as well. For one, you have that level of investment in your day that you want to keep up with, but you also make real changes to your metabolism, ensuring that your energy levels are balanced throughout the day, rather than feeling sluggish and lazy.
Know your motivations
Motivation isn’t just the fuel that keeps you going when you’re trying to forge a healthier lifestyle, it’s also a pool that you need to occasionally fill up. You will lose motivation over time. It’s up to you to make sure that you get it back. One way to do this is, for instance, to write down positive affirmations, note your goals, and then stick them somewhere you’re likely to see them, like beside your bathroom mirror. That way, every day, as you get up and get ready, you can read over the promise you made to yourself, as well as the words of encouragement that can stick in your head during the day.
Start planning your meals
There are a lot of legitimate complaints that stop people from eating healthily. It is not easy to eat healthily on a budget, nor is it easy to do it when you’re not used to using whole ingredients for your meals instead of processed foods. However, there are meal-planning apps that can make it a lot easier. Not only can they help you create a menu for the week based on using fewer ingredients that you spread throughout more meals, reducing your costs and preventing waste, but you can also create meal plans based on your aims. As time goes on, you might begin to absorb the information that allows you to prepare your own meal plans much more easily, as well.
Make some pre-prepped meals
One of the forces most likely to undermine your healthy eating plans is nothing other than laziness. However, this isn’t about lecturing you to not be lazy. We all know that energy levels fluctuate. Sometimes, you get home from work and you’re simply too tired or low in energy to make yourself a full, nutritious meal. However, reaching for the takeout menus isn’t the only option that you have. Instead, you can look in the fridge for any of the pre-prepared meals that you made in advance. Making some meals that are designed to be chilled or frozen for eating later can make sure that you always have healthy choices, even when you don’t want to cook.
Don’t be shy about getting some help
Whether you’re not entirely sure how to reach the goals you have in mind, you don’t have a lot of experience with exercise, or you have trouble maintaining a routine over time, you should consider getting in touch with a professional. The role of personal trainers isn’t just to push you to keep improving in your exercises. They are there to teach you the building blocks to make fitness and healthy eating a much more frequent and easy part of your life. Having someone with that expertise at the ready can help you keep yourself accountable, as well. You’re less likely to slide back into bad habits if it’s not just yourself that you’re letting down, but someone who is genuinely invested in improving your quality of life.
Track your eating habits
Let’s get back to the dietary side of things since diet is about 90% of all healthy living progress. Even when you’re planning your meals and using pre-prepped meals to keep options healthy, it’s easy for some bad habits to start sneaking in. Snacking throughout the day, and picking up a chocolate bar at the store; these habits can start to have an effect, bit by bit. With nutrition tracking apps, you can make sure that you are tallying up the values of everything that you eat throughout the day. Not only can you better see if you’re meeting both calorie and nutrition goals, but you can use it to start noticing the habits that might be undermining those goals too. When you keep yourself accountable, you are more likely to avoid bad behavior.
Look back over your progress
One of the reasons motivation can be difficult to maintain over the long term is that it can be hard to notice the differences in your body. They are so gradual that, even months in, you might not notice the change in yourself. As such, you should make an effort to notice that change. Track your goals and accomplishments over time, such as running distance, weights lifted in different workouts, and so on. You might also want to start taking topless progress photos of yourself and save them somewhere you can look back months from now so that you can really see the difference you have made when it’s time.
Pay attention to your mental health, as well
The best approach to making long-lasting health changes is to do it holistically. By this, we don’t mean aromatherapy and acupuncture, but rather focusing on your whole body, and your whole health. One aspect that can go overlooked all too often is your mental health. Exercise and diet can improve your mental health, there’s no doubt about that, but it’s still important to check in, to find stress reduction methods, such as mindfulness meditation, and to be ready to talk when you feel like a funk is descending on you. Ignoring the problem to try and focus on your physical condition is just going to make the elephant in the room bigger.
Be mindful of the company you keep
We all have friends who are likely to be living different lifestyles than us. You don’t have to drop friends just because they’re not eating or are spending more time drinking and partying or anything. You do, however, have to be aware of how those actions might affect you. If you’re tempted to eat junk food because your friend is eating junk food, then don’t go out to dinner with them, or recommend going somewhere that provides the healthier choices you can stick to. Similarly, making friends with other people who are as fitness and diet-focused as you are can help you gain motivation and affirmation from them. It can also act as a means to give yourself some degree of accountability.
Eating right, exercising, and taking care of your health isn’t easy, even when it does become a habit. As such, it’s important to redouble your focus and commitment to yourself on the regular. Don’t lose sight of your goals, and be sure to look back on how far you have come.