What to Expect When You Commit to Healthy Living
The Lifetime Benefits of Getting Fit are Numerous and Meaningful.
May 18, 2009
Changing a routine is always daunting – especially if it means giving up sugar, caffeine, and yummy fried foods in exchange for serious exercise. After thinking about it long and hard, you’ve decided that it’s time to cook up the veggies and throw on the running shorts. You know intellectually that it’s good for you, but it’s hard to justify your commitment to healthy living when a tub of ice cream and prime time TV are tempting you away from the gym.
Knowing what to expect will help you when times get tough, and cravings get tougher.
The First Step – Breaking Away from Unhealthy Habits
At first, it will probably be hard for you to put on the gym gear and pack a salad for lunch, but you must continue to do so without fail. This point in your new lifestyle will require the most self-control; your body will be telling you to eat what it’s used to – regardless of the fact that you know it’s not good for you. Resist the temptation to splurge by reminding yourself that the cravings will pass in time. It takes a solid month and a half for your body to get used to the new routine. The more consistently you stick to your healthier lifestyle habits, the sooner your body will stop craving unhealthy food.
Persistence is the single-most important factor at this stage. If you slip up (over-indulge, or skip exercise four days in a row), forgive yourself and carry on. Inertia is your friend, so make good use of it. It’s easier to forgive yourself and move on than to start from scratch a few months down the line.
Beginning to Enjoy Your Healthy Habits
If you consistently stick to your new routine of eating healthy food and exercising regularly, you’ll find that you have much more energy and you actually look forward to hitting the pavement (or unrolling your yoga mat, or high-kicking in jujitsu…). Believe it or not, exercise in itself can be addictive once your body realizes how good it feels to move!
You may surprise yourself in how far you’ve come in a short time. It doesn’t take long for your body to inherently learn how much better life is when you’re living healthy. Keep it up!
Noticing Real Results from Consistent Exercise and Healthy Eating
It’s inevitable that you will lose fat and tone up if you consistently exercise and eat healthy. It’s a heady feeling when people comment on how great you look, and you have to buy a size smaller than you’re used to. This is an obvious reward for all of your hard work, but it’s also a great time to check in and evaluate your plan.
While the aesthetic changes are exciting, try to notice the other changes in your life. Do you have more energy? Is your digestive system healthier? Do you get sick less often? Is your skin clearer? It’s important to emphasise the intrinsic rewards at this point so that you don’t burn yourself out too soon. A holistic health routine is a reward in itself – not dependant on outward appearance.
Hitting a Weight Plateau
Having people notice when you’ve lost a lot of weight can be incentive enough to continue eating healthy and going to the gym. However, it’s normal that at some point your body will reach a comfortable, natural weight that it will be unwilling to budge from. This is when you will have to be your own cheerleader so that you don’t revert back to the status quo.
There are statistics that suggest this is the point where some people begin regaining the weight they worked so hard at losing. So – how do you prevent that from happening to you?
It’s important to focus less on the aesthetic effects of your effort, and more on the way your healthier body feels. A healthy body makes for a happy life. Everything runs more smoothly, you have more energy than you ever have before – even your senses are more alive! By continuing to focus on why you’ve done this great thing for yourself, you will have the internal motivation to carry on.
Enjoy the Healthier You!
When you’ve personally experienced the intense transformation from unhealthy to fit, there’s no going back. The longer you continue to eat healthy and exercise often, the more ingrained it will become.
And nothing can stop you when you feel good about yourself!
