Whether we like it or not, we live in a world that is becoming more and more dominated with fitness and healthy eating. You can’t even walk down the street without being bombarded by billboards advertising the latest celebrity fitness plan or DVD, our social media timelines are full of people pushing various shakes and pills and plans to make us healthy, and bloggers left, right and center are giving diet tips and advice.
If you are a bit of a gym bunny and love nothing better than pounding on the treadmill and sipping on that superfood smoothie, it’s okay. But for many people, it is all a bit tiresome. Sometimes it feels like if you don’t go in for it big time, you might as well not bother. If this sounds like you, fear not because we have some tips to help you get fit and healthy without it taking over your life!
Incorporate it into your daily routine.
Instead of making fitness and getting healthy just another thing to add to your already long daily to-do list, make it part of your day to day routine. You may want to spend your valuable time off with your friends and family or doing something fun like going to restaurants or going traveling. Don’t worry though – with a bit of creativity, you can fit it all in and not have to drop anything. On average, we should all be aiming to do around 30 minutes of exercise every day. Think about your routine. Can you get off the bus a couple of stops earlier and walk the rest of the way to the office, or park at a space as far away from the supermarket as possible? All these little things really add up.
Don’t deny yourself treats.
The worst thing you can do is to deny yourself of all treats completely. Going ‘cold turkey’ just does not work. Food is not ‘bad’ or ‘good’ – in moderation, pretty much everything is acceptable. If you give up the foods that you enjoy and demonizing them, you’re more likely to crave them and end up binging on them.
Once you get stuck in that cycle, it is tough to get out of it. One slice of cake every so often is not going to make a difference to weight loss, so if you want it, go for it! You can also look at healthier alternatives to your favorites. If you love chocolate cake, why not look at recipes that sweeten them with beets rather than sugar? If milky lattes are your thing, swap the full-fat milk for skim milk. Small changes here and there can make the biggest of differences.
Don’t push yourself too hard.
It’s ok to do only what you can do. No one is expecting you to get up and immediately start running 10km. No one is expecting you to join a gym and go there day after day – in fact, it’s probably not a good idea to do this until you’ve had a full induction as you could end up injured and calling Hupy and Abraham for advice! Getting fit is a journey, not a race, and it is a good idea to start slowly and build it up.
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