Free Tips & Articles

Return To Article Index

OK, so the silly season is over and it’s time for some New Year focus and commitment. If you are like most people you may have indulged over the Christmas period and decided this year is the year your going to get healthy or shed a few extra kilos you may have gained!

If you are like most people you will start off ok. Maybe even get a gym membership, go for a few weeks and then suddenly you find you no longer have the time. Or "things" just keep coming up and before you know it another year is over and you set more goals for next year to be the year you are going to get healthy.

Why is it so many people fall in to this trap? We all start off with good intentions but somehow our intentions get diluted.

I think there are few factors to take in to consideration when it comes striving for our health goals. For many years I have worked closely with people trying to achieve their health goals and some have succeeded and some haven’t. What’s the difference? Why do some people successfully lose weight and get healthy and others don’t?
Research has shown 5 key components to successfully losing weight:

1. Make changes to eating and exercise
Most people are willing to do one but not the other. In fact most people suddenly start exercising and use it as an excuse to eat even more! If you want to lose weight it's simple: eat less and exercise more. If you are happy with your current weight but want to get healthy then just start exercising.

2. Forget about fad diets and focus on healthy eating
There are so many diets out there. It is no wonder why people are confused. I could write for days about what to eat and what not to eat. At the end of the day it's common sense. Eat a balance of ‘whole’ healthy foods and avoid processed foods. If you want to know more about what foods to avoid read "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser. If you want to learn more about what foods to eat read "Changing Habits Changing Lives" by Cyndi O'Meare.

3. Make time for movement
With all the wonders of modern technology we no longer really need to move. In fact if you wanted to you could probably do EVERYTHING from your desk. Pay bills, work, order food, watch movies even have sex without leaving your computer!!
Technology may have advanced but our bodies have not. We have become a society that eats more and moves less, which has seen high levels of obesity worldwide. Obesity is now the number one killer world wide in western cultures.
A simple but yet effective tip: buy yourself a pedometer (a tool the counts the number of steps you walk in a day) and if you are trying to lose weight you should walk 10,000 steps per day. If you are trying to maintain your weight walk 5,000 steps per day minimum. If you have read those figures and thought that’s difficult then you definitely need to buy one.

4. Keep records
People who exercise and get results keep records. Keeping records keeps you motivated as you can clearly see what you have achieved. It gives you a plan to work towards. A really simple record keeping activity I get my clients to do for a week is to keep a food diary. That is to record every meal that they eat and the time they ate that meal. You will be surprised at what you see.

5. Flexibility is king
People who succeed at sticking to an exercise regime do what they enjoy. If you are doing an exercise and not enjoying it, do something you like. There are so many options available you don’t need to limit yourself to just walking or jogging. Experiment and find what works for you.

Being healthy is a choice. It requires a little focus and commitment and yet the rewards are enormous. When you exercise you feel better, and when you feel better you do better and when you do better you feel better and so it continues like an upward spiral constantly improving your self worth and self esteem and ultimately the quality of your life.

Top