Ways to Stick to a Healthy Lifestyle Change

No one person loses the weight the same way. Most people swear by one thing or another. I did a variety of things before I found things that I could stick with for life. Really that is what it is about, finding things that you can stick with and make into a healthy lifestyle change.  It is not a diet, it is me making an effort daily to make the right choices in foods (some days I fail) and working out to keep my body as fit as I can be for my body type. It has been almost 4 years (wow) and I am still doing it, even now that I am 30 weeks pregnant!.  I found that I could easily work out for 30 mins 6-7 days a week, track my progress daily (which is everything I eat and any exercise I do down to cleaning the house), and I do not miss any exercises days unless I substitute it for another type of work out.  At the moment my workout is T25 which I loved because I love Shaun T and right when I think i cannot do anymore, it is over, 25 mins of my life then a 3-4 min stretch. I cannot beat that!

WAYS TO STICK TO YOUR HEALTHY LIFESTYLE CHANGE

Did you know that, more  than 91 percent of people who start an exercise regimen bail early, before the habit has taken hold. 61 percent quit within the first 7 days. (Crazy right?)

The reasons vary but I hear the same thing over and over: my job to too demanding, family commitments, and working out is too long/boring/complicated.

Trying using the following strategies to conquer your time constraints, speed your progress, and simplify your workouts.

Adopt a 3-Day Standard, saving one workout for the weekend. So that means you’ll have to fit in only two sessions from Monday through Friday (that should be easy to do, get up early before work or the kids wake up in needed). You may find like I did, that I became addicted and 3 days became 4, 4 became 5 and before I knew it, I never went a day without doing something active even if it was not a formal work out.

Track all your food and working out in a journal or app (www.loseit.com has a great one).When you do work out, write down the the difficulty of your workout on a scale of 1 (least favorable) to 7 (most favorable), and rate these three categories using the same scale: Your ability to work without stopping to take unscheduled breaks
Your ability to stick to your routine
and Your overall job performance that day at the office or around the house.
You will probably see you are more productive on your work out days and that’ll reinforce your motivation to keep at it.


Keep your streak intact. Research shows that when people skip a workout, there’s a 62 percent chance they’ll miss an exercise session the following week. If you don’t have time for your entire workout, take 10 minutes and do a portion of your routine—even if it’s only a couple of sets of pushups and lunges. You can find 10 -15 min work outs on my blog or buy the Tony Horton 10 min trainer and do 10 min work outs at a time, (if you can fit in 3 that day then you got in your 30 mins.. YAY)
Go hard, not long. If you like longer workouts, by all means, keep going. But don’t underestimate the power of a 30-minute work out. My work outs consist of 25 mins - an hour depending on the day, but I only go 45 mins - an hour maybe 2-3 times a week (I exercise 7 days a week most weeks, with one of those days being a stretch/yoga day)  Any longer than that my attention span is gone and so is the fun.

Find exercises that are fun and if you need to, find some that have a plan already formed for you. I love my Beachbody programs for that reason, they tell me what to do, and if i want to do multiple programs at the same time, i can always find a hybrid schedule online or make my own with my fave videos from all the different programs.  If you need help in finding something you enjoy email me I am happy to help you!

If you find yourself slacking, recommit to your lifestyle change all over again!  Keep trying, because you are worth it!  Never forget that!

Have a very fit day!