5 Tips for Sustainable Healthy Habits
As a personal trainer nothing, and I mean NOTHING, makes me happier than helping people get the results they’re looking for and seeing the looks on their faces when they proudly announce “I did it!”
When making a change in our health it is natural for both trainers and clients alike to want to get the desired results as soon as possible. A quick google search will reveal that there are a myriad of different ways to lose fat and/or gain muscle, all seemingly more instantaneous than the last.
While these methods will vary in credibility, almost all are lacking in sustainability. Yes you can decide to make a change, put yourself through hell for a month and achieve a goal, but how likely are you to stick with it after?
Today I’m going to share with you some tips for building healthy habits that will not only provide results but will stick with you for a lifetime.
Make it easy
There are 168 hours in a week, assuming you sleep an average of 8 hours a night that leaves you with 112 hours of being awake.
Of course you may have work as well so we’ll subtract another 40, now assuming you shower, make food for yourself, and spend time with your loved ones we’ll subtract another 5 hours per day.
Now you are left with a rough average of 37 hours per week of free time. Here at Out Run Your Fork all of our 1 on 1 and small group sessions last just 30 minutes, giving you a great workout while taking very little of your time. You’d be shocked by the kind of results that you can achieve with just 3 30 minute workouts a week.
The goal is to make it too easy to say no, so you can get through it without needing a wave of motivation to spur you on.
Replace bad habits with good ones
Whether we like it or not our bad habits are there for a reason. Some eat chocolate or smoke cigarettes when they are stressed. Others drink or waste time on the internet when they are bored.
No matter the habit, the simple advice of ‘just stop doing that’ rarely works. The real key to letting go of it is to recognize the cause and find a healthy substitute. For example if you have a late night sweet tooth try replacing your midnight candy with a fruit, if you smoke you can try some breathing exercises to achieve a similar calming effect, if you’re a binge eater try chewing gum to relieve the oral fixation.
Find a sustainable pace
Sustainability often goes hand in hand with patience. When we try too hard to force ourselves to become healthy we are much more likely to burnout. Spending an hour and a half at the gym after having avoided it for several months will leave you feeling sore and exhausted to say the least.
On the other hand when we are unwilling to make significant changes we remain in limbo, unable to stray from our old habits. Like many things in life the best approach is somewhere in between. If you are adding weight in the gym, you should probably go slower than you think. When looking to improve your nutrition make small changes instead of taking up some crazy new diet.
Keep score
With everything going on in our lives it is almost impossible to mentally keep track of all the things that we do and don’t do on a daily basis.
However it can be incredibly useful to make notes on our activities throughout the day. Not only will it provide a clear picture of the progress you make towards your goals, but it can make it obvious when you have fallen off the beaten path.
For example when it comes to nutrition I always recommend the MyFitnessPal app as it makes it incredibly easy to log your food and balance your macronutrients and alert you to the pros and cons of the things you eat.
Join forces
Every good superhero needs a sidekick. One of the greatest things about being human is our ability to work together to achieve a common goal. If you wish to go to the gym and start eating healthier, chances are you have a friend or family member who wants to do the same.
With a partner you can hold each other accountable and celebrate the victories you make along the way. Knowing that someone else expects you to do better is an incredibly powerful motivator.
The goal of these tips is to not only make living a healthy lifestyle easier, but to make it effortless. As we all know once we pick up a habit it’s hard to stop, however the same applies to good habits as well. So with a little time and patience the daunting task of eating healthy and exercising can become automatic.
Thank you for reading, I hope you find these tips as useful as I have!
Yours In Health,
Ian Andrew, personal trainer
Out Run Your Fork Personal Training in Westfield NJ
PS: If you’d like to learn more about how to work with Ian click here to learn more about Cost and Availability.