Make Fitness Part of Your Lifestyle
IT’S MORE THAN AESTHETICS. I get it, we all want to look good but health and fitness is about more than the way you look or the weight you lift at the gym. Health and fitness is about the way you feel, your quality of life, your ability to move, the focus you have at work, your mental state and so much more. When you’re healthy, you are in a better mood and can physically do more of the things you enjoy. Not being able to do every day activities can drastically impact your experiences and limit your quality of life.
Also, going into the new year, it is unrealistic to be going at 100 MPH all the time in our fitness journey. We are all human, life happens, stress comes and goes, and schedules change. When we choose to live a healthy lifestyle, we learn to accept these things and adapt. By practicing moderation, balance and consistency, you allow yourself to indulge without going overboard. If you don't have access to a gym one week, you learn to adapt instead of self destruct when your routine gets thrown off. You learn to enjoy life when you are away from your gym and kitchen because you have developed the habits and skills to live a healthy lifestyle no matter where you are.
Tips to make fitness a permanent fixture in your life:
Create habits. Repeat a behavior enough and it will become a habit. It’s literally as simple as that, science says so. There's so many studies out there to prove this. The brain likes repetition and it likes reward, so start there AND make sure to start small and measurable, setting reasonable goals and habits so that it last. Maybe it’s setting your alarm for 5am every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to hit the gym for as many weeks as it takes for it to become automatic (repetition), and taking note of how good you feel after every session (reward). Find what works for you. There is no exact formula as to how long it will take before your behaviour becomes a habit, but trust me when I say, do it enough, and pretty soon it will feel like an integral part of your everyday.
Find exercise you enjoy. This is important when it comes to staying consistent with your workouts. If you are continually doing exercises you don't enjoy, or they leave you feeling drained physically and emotionally, they will not last. You are better off finding exercises that make you feel good, and that you can stick to long term. Consistent exercise will always triumph inconsistent intense exercise no matter what plan it is. Moving our body out of love for our body is a lifestyle.
Prioritize your health. We’re all so busy with work, family and our social lives, that putting health and fitness first can seem impossible. So don’t put it first. But give it a spot in your top three. If it means making sure you leave work on time two days a week to get to that gym class, then put it in your calendar and make it happen. If it means squeezing in a walk around the block during your lunch break, then make it happen. Finding time for your health and fitness can be tough, but if you tell yourself that it's non negotiable, you’ll begin to realize it DOES fit into your lifestyle, you just have to make it work. And just do the best you can, it's a journey.
Hold yourself accountable. Follow a fitness program (I currently have three on the EvolveYou App!) or use an activity tracker to help with goal setting and progress tracking. Join the EvolveYou Community with thousands of women world-wide supporting one another in their health and fitness endeavors. I have my Commit Home and Gym Guides ready and waiting for you.
Don't compete with anyone but yourself. This is your life and your fitness journey. No two people are the same, so you should never compare yourself to others. We all are unique, each with our own strengths and that is AMAZING. As long as you wake up every day and try to be better than you were yesterday, you are on the right track.
What will get you to smash your workouts is discipline, forming healthy habits, setting goals and prioritization. If you’re trying to make fitness an integrated part of your every day life, it will take time, but you can do it! Let's take charge and gain that solid mindset of building sustainable habits that work for us as individuals.
Xoxo, MK
