Unfortunately, there is no magic pill that will get you in shape and help you to be healthy.
If you are looking for better health, then you have to do the work. There are some main keys to every health and fitness program that you need to have in place and if you look for programs that have these basic components, then you are well on your way to better health.
You can create your own health improvements by following several important steps. There are many ways to take charge of your health but here are some of the main things that you can do to see improvements:
Physical Exercise. There are no decent health and fitness programs that do not include physical exercise. Physical exercise provides you with energy and vitality and increases your stamina.
You should work towards incorporating physical exercise into your life on a daily basis. In order to do this, it should be something that you enjoy doing. You will need a cardio component and a strengthening component such as lifting weights.
You need to ensure that you do some form of exercise regularly, not just on weekends because you will not see any benefit if you do not have regular exercise.
Nutrition. Any fitness and diet plan requires proper nutrition. You need to focus on what you eat and the amounts of food you eat.
You need to avoid processed foods, eat more whole foods and concentrate on the proper amounts of carbohydrates, protein, and fats to be incorporated into your diet.
If you do not know what the proper amounts are, there are plenty of great websites where you can input your information and then find out what the exact amounts are.
You will need to be careful about the amount of salt, sugar, and cholesterol that you intake. If you drink coffee, you will need to know how much you should consume or limit your intake.
Commitment. Anyone can start a healthy eating regime or fitness plan, but will they stick to it? A fitness program requires a certain amount of dedication and the first step toward your goal is to take a step and continue along that path until you reach your goal.
Most people start off with great intentions but they do not have the willpower or the stamina to stay on track and make certain that they follow through to the end with all of their plans.
If you want to see results of even the smallest increment, you have to stay true to a course of action for a minimum of three months. What is the progress on your goals if you only try to follow a course of action for a few weeks then you are never going to reach or get close to your goals?
Stretching and flexibility. If you are looking for improvement in your range of motion, stretching and flexibility are the best ways to achieve that.
You should do regular stretching before you exercise by warming up first and then stretching for five to ten minutes prior to working out. After you work out your muscles are going to be quite warm and you can stretch at the end to increase flexibility and cool down.
Regular stretching is a great way to relieve your tension and stress.
Try to Add Activities Where Possible. If you have a hard time fitting in all the exercise that you need for the day, try to add in short bursts throughout the day.
Some examples of this are to take the stairs instead of the lift or to park further away from your destination and then walk for a short time. Eventually, you can take the stairs two at a time or run up the stairs once you start feeling that the stairs are no longer a challenge.
High-intensity stair climbing can significantly improve your cardiovascular fitness over time.
Use a Fitness Tracker. There is such a wide range of fitness tracking devices available on the market today.
These devices are a solid way to keep track of the amount of exercise you are doing, steps you are taking, average heart rate, average sleep, and in some cases your stress levels.
Having a good and solid understanding of these fitness markers is important because monitoring them helps you to see progress over time and areas where you can improve. Maybe you are only getting an average of five to six hours of sleep per night.
The average adult should be getting between seven and eight hours of sleep and this can have an adverse effect on your health over time.
Rest Days. When you exercise regularly, particularly if you are training hard, you need to have rest days to ensure that your body can repair itself.
When you are dedicated to exercising it can be difficult to stop and take those rest days, but rest days are just as important as the exercise days. Be sure to incorporate rest days into your program and do not skip them, no matter what.
Be Accountable. If you cannot stay on track on your own steam, involve someone else or several people. Form a group where you can check in with each other and cheer each other on.
There will be days when you do not feel like doing your workout and the same goes for others in your accountability circle. A group helps you to report to each other and offer encouragement to ensure you all continue making progress in the right direction.
Accountability partners ensure that you are less likely to skip a workout because they may be relying on you to be there when they want to get their workout done.
Exercise your mind. You should keep your mind in a positive space if possible. Daily meditation and positive affirmations are extremely helpful when it comes to being in the right headspace.
It is easy to have a negative take on something but you will want to avoid that direction and be as positive as you can. It takes fewer muscles to smile than it does to frown and it just feels better to be happy.
Sign up For an Event. Whether it is a marathon or a mud run, an event looming in the future gives you a goal to train for. You can measure your progress as you work towards that goal whether that means moving an extra mile or training for longer periods.
Building up to a goal is a great way to motivate yourself to get the job done since you will want to be able to compete in whatever event it is that you are training for.
Increase Intensity Over Time. If you continually do the same type of exercise at the same speed or intensity, you will eventually plateau. If you increase the intensity or add weight in the case of weight training, you will see gains and increase your strength over time.
If you just want to exercise to stay in shape then you do not need to increase the intensity, however, if you want to increase strength or lose weight, you will need to increase the intensity of the exercises that you do.
These are just a few important things to keep in mind when you are looking at a health and fitness program. It is important to remember that you should not start off at full speed and “all in” as this is simply not sustainable over time.
If the exercise is too intense you run the risk of becoming injured and then having to take time off to recover. If the exercise is not intense enough then you will probably not see any results for all the work that you are putting into your program.
You should be able to see results over time as you work through your program. Of equal importance is that you should not try to change your eating habits all at once.
Start by eliminating processed foods if you tend to eat a lot of them and work towards cooking meals at home instead of out at restaurants. Eventually, you can add in healthier foods and make different choices over time.
If you were to try and make all of the food choices at one time it could be a case of overwhelm and you would likely not be able to stick to the plan. Small changes over time are the key ingredient to becoming healthier and being able to stick to the changes that you make.
Good health is something that many people wish they had, they just do not know how to achieve it. These guidelines should help you to be well on your way to a healthier future with fewer health risks in the future.
The sooner you take charge of your health the sooner you will see the results and the benefits of your efforts.
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The article suggested by MyMedici