Everyone has their New Year’s resolutions and a pretty common one is to start a healthier lifestyle. For the past several years, this has been a resolution of mine that I have not ended up sticking with. We are now a little over a month into 2020, and normally while this is around the time I would start slacking off on my resolution, this year I made some changes as to how I am approaching my fitness journey.
The first thing I realized was that I was not being realistic with myself. In my head, I thought I could automatically start working out 5-6 days a week and switch to a super healthy diet, but that is just not the case. While in my head I still have those goals, I am realistic with myself in that some days you have a long busy day and don’t have time for the gym, and that’s okay. I used to get so defeated and beat myself up if I missed a day at the gym, which just ended up making me stop going altogether. I now listen to my body and if I am really not feeling well or have a lot to do, I take a rest day and get back into the swing of things the next day.
As for my diet, I myself have a MAJOR sweet tooth and cannot go a day without craving something sweet. I used to feel guilty about my cravings, but now when I crave something sweet at the end of the day, I find the healthiest version of it and eat in moderation. There is no guilt or shame in eating a cookie from time to time.
Another thing that has kept me going is realizing a health and fitness journey is about so much more than how you look. When I used to work out inconsistently, I would get so disappointed if I wasn’t seeing immediate results. I now focus much less on what the scale says and more how I feel. My energy levels have been so much higher since I started working out more consistently, and now I look forward to going to the gym. It has become the time when I can completely shut off from the rest of the world and my responsibilities for a little why and just focus on myself.
Finally, I have realized that while I want to focus on my physical health, a big part of having a healthy lifestyle is focusing on all aspects of your life, including your mental health. Mental health has a huge impact on how we view ourselves which can then affect our physical health as well. The changes I have made for both my physical health and mental health have gone hand in hand.
While I still have a lot I can improve on, I have been focusing on being more forgiving of others as well as myself. A big part of this has been realizing that perfection doesn’t exist and when I mess up or fail it isn’t the end of the world. You just have to accept it, learn from it, and pick yourself back up. Another aspect of my mental health I have been working on is gratitude. We often get caught up in the little things that go wrong in our lives and forget to appreciate what we do have. Journaling is a great way to reflect on the things you are grateful for and also to keep track of your progress both physically and mentally.While I am still on my journey towards a healthier style and have lots of improvements I can make, these are some of my tips that have helped me to stay on track and not lose motivation. Changing your lifestyle isn’t going to be easy, but you have to remember to be patient with yourself and appreciate the small victories along the way. If you can achieve that, then that is where you will find the most success.