New Years Resolutions for a New You
A new year is often a time when many people start to re-evaluate their lives. With New Year resolutions a lot of people decide to overhaul their lives to become healthier, especially after a gluttonous Christmas spell. New years resolutions may result in you spending large amounts of money on gym memberships, new equipment and subscriptions for meal deliveries. Before you spend big, read on for some advice on how to start a healthier lifestyle that can be maintained.
How to Begin in the New Year
Would you be surprised to learn that the hardest part of leading a healthier life is not the exercise or eating healthy? The hardest part is not even finding the motivation to keep going once you have reached your happy place. No, the hardest part is starting, whether you are starting for the first time or starting over for the hundredth time, the most difficult thing you can do is start. That can be a for a variety of reasons, but often it can come down to lack of planning and preparation.
No-one starts running a marathon by going out in their regular shoes and running 42.2 kilometres. A marathon is run by planning and training, and pushing yourself a little further each time. By the same token, a healthy lifestyle is not attainable for the masses by throwing out all your unhealthy foods, going to the gym 7 times a week and buying a treadmill, bike and home gym. That is why extreme diets are not sustainable, you cannot be expected to keep up with that level of intensity, especially when starting from a less healthy beginning.
So what can you do? You can plan and prepare. Decide what you want and how long it will reasonably take to get to that goal.
Questions to ask when making a plan:
- What improvements do you want to make? Eating/exercise/run a 5km race/gain muscle/lose fat?
- How are you willing to achieve your goal? Will you really get up at 6am every morning for the gym? Be realistic and start small, maybe you can go for a walk every evening and add in a run twice a week. Start with 1km, progress as you are able. walk part and run part. See if you can rope in a friend or family member to start with you to encourage and motivate.
- What days/times can you fit in exercise? What exercise do you enjoy? Does going for a run make you miserable, but swimming makes you feel energised?
- How can you stop picking at the unhealthy snacks? What healthy snacks do you like to eat? Celery sticks just not hitting the spot? Maybe add a little peanut butter for taste and protein. Can you prepare some dinners/lunches in advance? Keep your eating regular, skipping meals or delaying them can result in snacking on high calorie foods and drinks.
Establishing Routines Far Beyond New Years Resolutions
Once you have a reasonable and attainable plan in place, the next step is to begin to establish routines. Your first week does not need to be all lettuce, steamed chicken and 140 mile cycles. Start small, ease yourself in and start to create routines that are easy to follow. Maybe you have decided to walk three evenings a week with a friend. Pick which days suit and stick with those days as much as possible.
If you decided to stop eating any unhealthy food then start with not getting a take away every evening, maybe just on a Friday evening instead. You could decide to pre make your lunch every morning to bring to work with you. Make a plan for your meals weekly on a Sunday evening.
By establishing routines you are creating habits, and as we all know habits can be hard to break. The trick is to create habits which are beneficial to your life.
Treating yourself
We are all guilty of turning to food or alcohol as a way of treating ourselves at the end of the week or when we have achieved something. Nothing wrong with this in small amounts, but its never a bad idea to find new ways of celebrating an achievement. Why not book in for a massage? Not only can these be relaxing, a massage can also help to release tensions and body aches that you could be carrying due to your new exercise regime. Both Sports and Deep Tissue Massages can be booked with Revive Physiotherapy here
2024 and Beyond
There is nothing stopping you from achieving your goal of living a healthier and happier lifestyle. It has been said that the aim of life is to die young as late as possible. Everyone can benefit from moving more and eating better, if you want advice on how to start moving, treatment for any old injuries or pains that are holding you back or even just a kick start with exercises suitable for your age and ability, please call us to make an appointment with one of our professional and dedicated physiotherapists.