Be active to feel better!
Many people have a hard time staying motivated to be active for reasons thinking they have to do it. If you are one of them, try to slowly change your mentality. Don’t become active because you have to, don’t do it because you’re “supposed to”, be active to . . . get better control of your weight, have a more toned look, and build stronger muscles. Be active to have more energy for fun times such as hanging out with your friends. Be active to make friends who share similar interests like dancing, sports, or other activities. Be active to improve your mood and ability to focus. When you focus on the positive outcomes of a physically active lifestyle and the benefits of it, you will have more motivation to exercise, eat healthy
and do body work. You don’t have to do boring exercise routines to be energetic. Fun activities can be good for you too! Just get up and move! Be active for 60 minutes a day (You don’t have to do it all at once) enjoy the outdoors with activities like hiking, walking, jogging, and gardening. Start a walking group, find a school track, or go to a local park. Pitch in to help keep our beautiful parks clean and usable. Park your car farther away from the entry to the building. Walk around the mall during off-peak hours.
Stay active indoors too! Sit less while watching TV, gaming, and surfing the web; these activities are fun but inactive, so spend less time in front of the screen. When you talk on the phone don’t sit, walk around instead. Try taking more stairs. Recruit others to be active with you, which will help you stay interested and be safe. Be active with your friends to support each other and make moving fun, have a dance party. Also, consider signing up for a fun exercise class, like salsa or zumba together. Take fun fitness classes. Explore options you never thought about, and stick with what you enjoy.
When healthy eating or physical activity has become part of your routine, you need to keep things interesting to avoid slip-ups and find ways to cope with what life throws at you. Add variety which will keep you motivated; mix up your routine with new activities, physical activity buddies, foods, recipes, and rewards and remember to plan ahead to avoid setbacks. For example, find other ways to be active in case of bad weather, injury, or other unusual situations. If you do have a setback, do not give up! Setbacks happen to everyone, regroup and focus on meeting your goal as soon as you can. Challenge yourself! Revisit your goals every four weeks and think of ways to expand them. For example, if you are comfortable walking 5 days a week, consider adding strength training twice a week. If you have successfully limited your saturated fat intake, try cutting back on added sugars too.
Change is always possible and a person is never too out-of-shape, overweight, or old to make healthy changes. Make your new healthy habit a priority. Pick one health goal you want to accomplish and practice that. Practice will make you a master, just remember to practice it perfectly and you will feel better and look great.
Enjoy your active and healthy life!