Starting a fitness program can be intimidating, especially for beginners. If most of your food came from drive-throughs or in cardboard heat-and-serve containers and your only exercise was pressing the buttons on the remote and texting, getting fit is confusing and scary. It doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t have to begin everything at once. Nobody goes from couch potato to body beautiful overnight. Here are some tips that will help you be more successful.
You don’t have to do everything at once.
Everyone has a different way of doing things. Some people jump in the water with both feet, while others dip their toes and eventually make it into the water. Both reach the final goal. If you’re a toe dipper, start by improving your diet. No matter how much you exercise, you can’t out-exercise an unhealthy diet. If you aren’t sure where to begin, start by eliminating food with added sugar and highly processed food. Eat more whole food, less processed foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, or frozen and canned fruits and vegetables without additives and lean protein sources.
Meal planning helps you stick with your healthy eating plan.
When you meal plan, you make a meal plan one night, shop another day and spend a day or two cooking all the meals for a week. You’ll have healthy meals ready for the whole week that just need to be heated. They’re often quicker to prepare than waiting in line at the fast food restaurant drive-through. At Wellness on a Dime, we offer customized meal plans to fit your taste, needs and goals. It can save you money since you won’t have leftovers and the meals are less expensive to make than it costs to buy burgers and fries.
Start a workout program.
You can start an exercise program at the same time you start eating healthy or give yourself a chance to make eating healthy a habit, then start. Some people don’t add a program of exercise while they’re changing dietary habits, but simply increase their activity level, adding extra steps to their daily routine and making an effort to walk more. Exercise programs should include ones for strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. If you opt for a Wellness on a Dime custom meal plan, it comes with exercise videos to help you get started.
- Focus on form when you’re first learning an exercise. While pushing yourself is important, take it easy at first. Once you learn the right form and your body is adjusting to exercise, you can push yourself more.
- Getting fit is more of a mindset. When you eat healthier, focus on how it tastes, not what you’re missing. You’ll be surprised by how good healthy food tastes once your body adjusts. Make sure you measure both meals and snacks to individual portions.
- Never compare yourself to someone else. You are only competing against yourself. You will be the only beneficiary of your good health, although it can prevent you from becoming a burden on your family later.
- Track your results, whether it’s taking measurements, weighing in, or taking a photo of yourself once a month to compare changes. Winners keep score. If you’re getting fit to lower blood pressure, monitor your blood pressure.
For more information, contact us today at Wellness On A Dime Coaching