Everyday Changes You Need to Make for Leading a Healthy and Fit Life
Kick-starting a new diet or training regimen can be one of the biggest challenges in transforming your lifestyle. For some people, going to the gym six days a week and eating healthy, making sure to hit your macros can sound intimidating, and even after they try it for a few months feel overwhelmed, leading them to drop their gym memberships. This is a common problem.
However, what you may not realize is that many people never start working out and transforming their bodies because they think it is too hard and will take up a lot of time from their daily schedules, so instead they skip out. Getting over this misconception is almost like winning half the battle. 7x Mr. Olympia champion and bodybuilding pioneer Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, “if the Pope has time to work out, so do you”, and we could not agree more.
Changes to Make to Better Your Lifestyle
This article isn’t about what to do when you’ve entered a gym. Instead, it is about how to reach the the point where you join and attend gym, as well as commit to a healthy lifestyle in a progressive manner, constantly bettering yourself. A spurt of motivation is the last thing you need before starting on your fitness journey.
We see hundreds of people joining gyms as their New Year’s resolutions but almost all of them drop out soon after they start. You need the determination to take on this challenge as transforming your physique isn’t going to be easy and it is going to take time. Usually, longer than you would have imagined.
Let’s break down the small changes you should make!
Hydrate
The first change you can make is to drink water, lots of it. Our bodies are made up of 70% water and people still make the mistake of only drinking water when they are thirsty. If you want to get in shape, you should be drinking at least a gallon of water every day, as it helps to push nutrients through your body, getting them to the necessary areas so you can recover faster.
Drinking four liters of water might look like a monumental task if you’re someone who drinks 4-6 glasses of water in a day. You can set mini goals of drinking a glass of water every half an hour to achieve this goal.
Setting reminders on your phone can also help you in achieving this goal, however there are also large water bottles available that show a fill line and where you should be each hour of the day. By keeping yourself hydrated, you can increase your brain power, flush out toxins, boost your immune system, prevent headaches, cramps, and sprains, among many other benefits.
Move
You don’t have to hit the gym on the first day you feel you need to work on your body. It is perfectly fine to start small. Set a daily move goal for yourself according to your long-term fitness goal. The daily goals could be to do 20 pushups, run a mile on the treadmill, do 20 minutes on the stairclimber, swim two laps, etc.
Some people start working on their bodies but drop out soon. This problem can be tackled by keeping yourself accountable to someone. Share your goal with people around you, it could be with your family, friends, or even on social media.
By telling people what you’re working on, you’ll be setting a mental challenge for yourself. Most people stop working out and hitting the gym because they had no goal, and no one knew about it. By committing to the goal and sharing it with people, you’ll be accountable and will find it harder to drop out.
Eat Right
Don’t make the mistake of getting an appointment with a nutritionist on the first day of your New Year’s resolution, that is just a waste of time when there are so many resources available to get a better understanding of the foods to eat and the foods to avoid, as well as calories, macros, and so on. If you do, ask your nutritionist how many people actually stick to their diets.
Take baby steps into the world of fitness. This will improve your chances of staying on track. The next time you eat out, try to avoid junk food and too many cheat meals, and stick to eating something like a salad or roasted chicken. Change your diet one meal at a time.
It might be a good idea to assist your diet with supplements such as protein powder and multivitamins to help your body achieve the maximum results. But always remember, supplements are called supplements for a reason. They can never replace real food.
Take it Easy
No matter how hard you workout, your body isn’t going to change in a single day – or week for that matter. Your muscles break down when you work out, and repair when you sleep. Just like a baby grows in its sleep, your body transforms while you’re sleeping.
Sleeping for 6-8 hours a day is essential for recovery. If you’re sleeping for less than six hours a day don’t expect your cognitive abilities to function at optimal levels. Most of the high-level executives and performance athletes advocate sleeping for eight hours a day.
Don’t plan on exercising seven days a week when you start working out. Plan your workouts as per your goals. Most of the pros don’t work out more than six days a week, so chances are you won’t have to either.
Starting Your Fitness Journey Wrap Up
Overall, there are plenty of different small changes you can make to better your lifestyle, but in the gym and out of the gym. You do not have to hit the ground running when you start your fitness journey, and that is okay, so taking these small steps is the next best thing.
Are you planning to start your fitness journey? Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook and Twitter.
*Header image courtesy of Envato Elements.
