When starting any new endeavour, setting in place some strong, solid habits help to keep you accountable, and guarantee your success long term.
Following are the top five habits that fit people live by, and how you can incorporate them into your daily life to reap the rewards!
1. Adopt a Long Term Mindset
Rather than viewing your current way of eating as a diet, and your current exercise as a plan or program you follow, view them both as just how you eat and move from now on. The idea of a diet, or a program, implies something short term; something we do for a period of time to achieve a certain result, before going back to our previous ways. These also generally imply some level of restriction and deprivation, which we are hard-wired to rebel against! Instead adopt the mindset that you eat in a way that nourishes you, and which is sustainable long term.
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Secondly, flip the idea of movement as ‘exercise’, which can make it feel like a chore, and embrace moving every day as a way to look after your body. Find a way to move your body that you love, and put it into your daily routine, just like brushing your teeth.
2. Set Goals
Giving yourself something to work towards keeps the excitement and the energy alive, and keeps you focused on the attainment of the goal, rather than on a number on the scale or a dress size. Whatever your fitness goal, if you do what it takes to get there, you will see an improvement in your body, and the journey will be so much more enjoyable.
3. Change Your Routine
If what you are doing no longer excites or challenges you, mix it up! There are so many different and varied options available, from parkour to ballet barre classes, that there is no reason for you to not love what you do. Challenge yourself – try a new class every month and see the effect on your motivation, commitment, fitness and body. If you don’t like it, ditch it. If you do, keep it.
4. Bring a Friend
Having friends with similar goals will help you achieve yours. Most gyms will offer a buddy pass, so grab one, and get a friend to come along and have a workout with you. Plan social interactions around physical activities; instead of meeting for coffee, grab takeaways and take yourselves for a long walk along the beach. Take your friends trampolining instead of sitting around at a BBQ.
5. Cook And Eat At Home
Not only will this save you money, you also get to control exactly what goes in to your meals. Most fit people will do one or two big cook ups throughout the week, preparing meals for many days in advance, and then portioning them up in the fridge or freezer, for ease during the week. There’s nothing more tempting after a long day at work to order a pizza, but if you already have nutritious meals prepped and ready to go, you’re never caught out.
