HIGHLIGHT
Keeping fit and maintaining a healthy lifestyle seems to be all the rage right now and for good reasons too.
Keeping fit is a great way to stay happy and live longer. Not only will you look better, you’ll also feel better too.
Managing a fit and healthy life keeps chances of getting diabetes, hypertension, heart attacks and other diseases to a minimum. There are various ways to maintain a postive and healthy lifestyle but here are a few to keep in your back pocket to help you get started.
1. Your Diet Matters
The benefits of a healthy diet cannot be overstated. Diet is actually the most important part of keeping a fit lifestyle. Surprisingly, many people actually ignore it especially if they do work out. Unfortunately, if you work out without eating right then it could be all for naught. Many people say diet is 80% of keeping fit.
It is wise to always be weary of junk food because of their high sugar and sodium content and also the that fact they are immediately converted to fat and produce no real energy for the body. This also leads to feeling tired more than you would if you were to actually eat a balanced diet. In the long run, this would affect anyone’s exercise lifestyle.
Tips:
- Avoid meals that are high in sugar such as cookies, donuts, sodas and cake; Opt instead for foods that are high in protein
- Increase protein and vegetable intake and reduce carb intake. Apply the same logic to meals that are high in fat and high in cholesterol (fried foods) and opt for meals that are high in fiber instead.
- Try to avoid processed foods instead, organic foods are always the better option. Adding fruits and grains are also excellent to get your diet along.
2. Planning Is Key
Plan your meal. Plan your diet. Plan your day. Plan everything. Planning is one of the most effective ways to kick-start a healthy lifestyle. Meal Prep or meal planning is important to ensure that you always have your healthy options available to you and it steers you away from unhealthy meals. Planning to take time out of your days actually as opposed to working out when you’re free actually makes it a lot easier to keep to it.
Tip:
- Work out first thing in the morning. It is always best as it just get it out of the way, instead of in the evening when you’re tired and worn out from the stress of the day.
3. At Least 30 Minutes Of Exercise Is Never A Bad Idea
You don’t have to start out at two hours of exercise a day or even one hour of cardio. It’s okay to exercise 30 minutes a day.
Tips:
- Find an exercise that you would actually look forward to, it could be dancing, cycling, jogging or walking – as long as it keeps you sweating and your blood flowing.
- Implementing a daily routine and sticking to it is quite necessary to keep that healthy and fit lifestyle you wish to have.
- Always to remember to put your best foot forward, as the saying goes – anything worth doing is what doing well.
4. Don’t Overwhelm Yourself
Pace yourself. Don’t set exceedingly high goals. This is where some people make some of their biggest mistakes. You come across many people who set goals that are unrealistic such as ‘losing 10kgs in one week’ or ‘losing 30kgs in 30 days’. This is a recipe for disaster because while this is an utterly difficult task in itself, not achieving these set goals makes a lot of people give up when they should be persevering on.
Tips:
- With the above in mind, it is important to set small and realistic goals, such as eliminating soda or fried foods from your diet, especially when starting out.
- Never overwhelm yourself, it only leads to disappointment.
5. Stay Hydrated
The human body is 50-65% water and because of the various activities we go through in the day, we need to keep replenishing our water intake daily or risk becoming dehydrated. You hear every day that you should take 8-12 glasses of water a day but the truth is that your water intake should actually be decided by just how much you weigh. The amount of exercise you partake in daily as well as how much you sweat also decides just how much water you should be drinking. It is important to remain hydrated or risk endangering your fitness.
Tips:
- Always have a can of water handy as you go about your day.
- Before you exercise, take enough water and drink as you go.
- Don’t let thirst become so bad before you drink water.
6. Be Patient
Keeping fit is not something that can be done overnight. It takes time to see results but this should never deter you. Just know you can do it and if you keep going at it, you will get to exactly where you want to be. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Tip:
- Dont give up just yet.
