If you want to lose weight, get in shape, and be healthier overall, drastically changing your lifestyle is not the way to go. While things such as crash diets, weight loss pills and shakes, and over-exerting yourself at the gym can result in short-term weight loss, statistics show that you will gain all the weight back and then some. Plus these methods generally tend to be very unhealthy and taxing on your body. The key to truly getting healthy and losing weight that you can keep off is to gradually shift your lifestyle into a healthier and more balanced one. This will allow your body time to adjust to the changes you are making so you do not end up going back to your former bad habits. To help you make this gradual change, here are five tips proven to help you get healthy, and stay healthy.
1. Join a local sports team
All towns and cities have local sports teams that community members can join. Some of them are free to join, such as ones organized by churches or volunteer groups, and some of them ask for a monthly or yearly due. If you go to your community’s web page, or simply ask around, you will easily be able to figure out what sports teams exist in your area and when they meet. Select a sport that are interests you, maybe one that you already have experience playing, and attend the next meeting to see how their process works. Most sport teams will meet on a weekly basis, which means that you will have a reason to get out and exercise at least once a week. Once you have made a commitment to the team, it will also be much less likely that you will skip going.
Add a social aspect to your weekly game by arranging to go out for food or drinks after the game with your team mates. This makes the ‘task’ a more enjoyable experience, becoming something you look forward to rather than something you have to do. If it feels like to much to organise, companies such as Go Mammoth can sort it all out for you, arranging both the sports league and the post-match socialising.
2. Walk or cycle more often
If you live in a town or city, chances are that you live close enough to many places that you frequent that you do not need to get in the car to get to them. To incorporate more physical activity easily into your life, start riding your bike to work two to three times a week, or walking to your local shops on the weekend. While it will take a few minutes longer for you to get there, once you make it part of your routine you will hardly notice the extra time. Not only will you be getting additional exercise, but you will also be getting plenty of fresh air. Considering that most people spend the day in an office breathing recycled air, one of the best things that you can do is spend time outside in the fresh air. Walking and cycling more frequently will help to clear and focus your mind in addition to helping you be physically active.
3. Remove temptation
Before they commit to being healthier, people’s cupboards tend to be filled with unhealthy, fattening snacks. When trying to change your eating habits, one of the worst things that you can do is leave all of these temptations in your house. No matter how much you think you will not be tempted by them—eventually you will be. Collect all of the junk food in your cupboards and refrigerator and give them away to friends or family members who want them (or a local homeless shelter). If you cannot find anyone to take them, donate the unopened containers to your local food pantry and throw the rest away. Once the tempting foods are gone, make sure to stock your kitchen with healthy options. Load up on fresh vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Once you get in the habit of eating healthily, you will find that you do not even miss the junk food that previously tempted you. Your new food choices will leave you feeling far more satisfied because your body will be receiving better nutrition from the healthier food.
4. Weekly fruit or vegetable box
There are many national programmes set up where you can sign up to receive a box of fruit or vegetables every week. These will be very fresh, usually organic, and will be delivered right to your door. This eliminates the hassle of having to go to the supermarket to get them and insures that you will have fresh fruit, vegetables, or both available in your home every week. Making this commitment to sign up for a fruit or vegetable box comes with the incentive to eat all of them within the week. You will have already paid for them and you will know that another box will be there the following week, so you have to finish what was already delivered. Incorporating fresh fruit and vegetables into your diet will make you feel healthier and give you more energy than you ever had before. They are packed full of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that your body needs, especially when eaten raw. Having a fruit or vegetable box delivered to your door every week is an excellent way to make sure you are eating enough of them.
5. Get a fitness app
With all of the technology available to you, quite literally at your fingertips, it only makes since to use it to your advantage when trying to create a healthier lifestyle for yourself. Many different apps have been developed to help you keep track of what you are eating and how much exercise you are getting. If you have a method of keeping track of this, you are much more likely to stay on track with your healthy lifestyle. There is an iPhone app called ‘CountEat. Calories’ that allows you to estimate how many calories you consume with each meal. This innovative approach—estimating instead of counting—has proven to be incredibly successful. When trying to keep track of every single calorie, people can easily become overwhelmed and give up completely. This method of just providing an average allows you to stay on track without getting bogged down with the details. A great system for keeping track of your exercise and weight loss progress is Fitbit. This has the ability to record calories, weight, exercise, heart rate, blood pressure, glucose levels, and even your sleep! When it comes to staying healthy, all of these things factor into the equation. Using these apps, or apps like these, to help you track your progress will keep you on track and allow you to see your results in a clear manner.
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