Having Better Health to Move Better
Do you want to be more active?
Are you reducing the amount of unhealthy food you are having?
Have you started to consume nutritious food and move more, but find it tough to stick to a routine?
Well, as the saying goes old habits are hard to die, the same can be said about your diet and health. What you need to realize is that changing your habits is not a simple process, it involves various stages.
It might take some time for the changes to become your new habits. Of course, it isn’t an easy task and you might come across various roadblocks.
Healthier Lifestyle & Habits
Just think about it! If you have a healthier lifestyle and habits, you can avoid serious health issues like diabetes and obesity. With new healthy habits like regular exercising and eating right, you can manage your weight, giving you more energy. As you slowly start adapting to such changes, they will immediately and automatically become part of your day-to-day routine.
Healthy Movement – Exercising and Fitness
When many people think about healthy movement, exercising, looking better, fitness or weight loss is the first thing that comes to their mind. Can’t blame them! We try to fit into social norms where a person always guides us in doing things especially with regards to our health and exercise. Many individuals go through rigorous training and diet so that they can get the best body as per most Instagram snaps.
Come on! It is not that easy but it isn’t impossible. Healthy movement is actually more liberating, interesting, and quite something that you can enjoy. With advancement in technology, human life has become structured in a way making it easy to simply avoid moving. We travel in our cars while going to work or nearby stores. At work, we sit most of the time at our desk majority of the time, and then we come back home and sit down to take rest. A slogging lifestyle with no adventure or break.
Frankly, this isn’t what our body is built for. Just to get stiff backs, creaky knees, legs cramps, or constantly body aches. Slowly, you realize that you can’t even keep up with a new born baby. It has become that bad. If you can’t move properly, then it is the sign that you aren’t that healthy as you think. However, the quantity and quality of the daily movements you do, coupled with agility and strength are what makes one more healthy and active.
Most of the time, people become happy and excited when they change from being heavy and bulky to agile and lean. They feel that they are living better and notice some great changes like –
- doing things, which they put off for years
- being more energetic
- feeling young
- happy and proud with their new lifestyle
- empowered
- free from various limitations and anxieties which held them back for a long time
Here these individuals are happier, not because they look better, but because their body works as it is meant to. They are able to do things which they need and must do. As human beings, we move our body to display our needs, wants, thoughts, emotions, and even ideas. So, how well we move, how much we move, etc will determine how well we can engage with the world and create a larger purpose in life.
Stages in Changing Behavior or Health Habits
There are four stages involved in changing your health habits. These tips will easily help in improving your physical activity, eating habits, and overall health.
Contemplation
This is the stage where you are thinking about the change and getting the motivation get started. You are in this stage if you think of making change. However, not ready to begin it. Also, if you feel that your energy levels, health and overall well-being will easily improve if you have good habits and even if you aren’t sure on how to overcome the roadblocks that prevent you from making the change.
Preparation
Here preparation means you have made up your mind to take action. Here in this stage, you are going to make plans and think of certain specific methods that might work for you. You are in this stage if you have decided to make the change and ready for it. Individuals in this stage are those who are ready to get their plan into action.
Action
When you have started to make changes, then you are in the action stage. Here you are following the plan and making sure that you are able to achieve the change that you want. You are in this stage if you have changed your physical activity, eating, and behavior for the past six months. It also consists of adjustments you make to feel healthy, active and other basic changes to get more sleep or reduce the screen time. You are in this stage if you are able to overcome those things which can prevent you from successfully becoming active.
Maintenance
This is the final stage where you have a new routine and continue with it. Here, you have got used to that change and continue to follow it for more than 6-8 months. You are in this stage if the change has slowly become a part of your normal routine. Also, if you have got some creative methods to stick with this routine and also if there has been any setbacks or slip-ups and you were able to get past them and really make a good progress.
Contemplation
One thing that you need to keep in mind is that it can be hard and will take some time when you decide to leap from thinking about change to taking action. It might be helpful if you start thinking and ask yourself about the pros and cons involved in changing habits before making any changes.
Just think about the benefits you are going to have from regular exercising and healthy eating. These might be good for your overall health. For example, if your blood sugar level is slightly high and you have a parent, sister, or brother suffering from type 2 diabetes. In this case, there are less chances of you getting type 2 diabetes. In this situation, it might be best that if you can be physically active and have a healthy diet , you can control your blood glucose level, thereby protecting you from any serious diseases.
Preparation
The preparation stage is the starting stage of action. Frankly, this is one where you are going to take action for being in the best shape and to get started, you need to check out the list of the cons and pros. It is all about creating a plan and being on it. There will be various roadblocks that you might have to face but there are various easy solutions for overcoming them as you slowly start to change your habits.
At the time of preparation, you might feel that you don’t have the required set aside time. The first and foremost thing that you need to do is make the healthy habit as the main priority. Try to do any kind of physical activity wherever or whenever you can. You need to do simple exercises which are often a part of your day to day life, like taking the stairs, getting off the bus at a stop which is before yours. Also, you can try to cook healthy meals which you can freeze and have later, keep aside a day for grocery shopping, and the list goes on and on.
Sometimes you might feel that healthy habits can be a bit overpriced. No, it isn’t. You can exercise at various places of your choice and the ones where you go occasionally. Like you can take a walk around the mall, local park or school track for free. Eating good and healthy food at a budget can also be the right decision. Buying in bulk when the items are on sale, selecting frozen veggies and fruits will help to tone down your expenses and provide some good diet to follow.
It is not possible to do or make changes alone. You can get the company of other people. By recruiting other people to be in the path of activeness and healthy living, you are making them more sociable and motivated. You can always take up the challenge of going to a fitness club and even salsa dancing. You can even make your family and co-workers to be on the healthy wagon. It is better if you plan your day-to-day healthy meals with your colleagues, friends, family, etc. You can even plan the healthy meals along with your family or even being with a healthy potluck once a week at your work.
Some people assume that physically active always lifting weight or exercising at gym. No doubt there are various ways of being active like walking, dancing, gardening, etc. You can make a list of activities you can do and ones that appeal to you. It is all about exploring options you never assume about and making sure that you stick to it.
You do have options of making your favourite food in a more healthier way. Like you can trim the excess fat from the meat and lower the amount of sugar, butter, salt that you use for cooking. It is also better if you use low-fat milk or cheese rather than whole-milk food. Try to add a cup or two of carrots, broccoli, spinach, etc to your pasta or casseroles.
Action
It is all about whether you have begun to make the change. Making change to your lifestyle is fantastic, and you need to stick to new habits. The following are the some of the steps you can take –
- Try to review the plan you have.
- Check out the goals you have made and if you are able to achieve them.
- Try to overcome the hurdles through proper planning in order to avoid setbacks.
- Appreciate and reward yourself for the hard work you do.
It is easy to find out your strengths and areas to improve if you track your progress. It is one of the best ways to stay on course. Here you need to not only record what activities you did but even rejoice the feeling you had while doing it. Keep in mind that your feelings will play a major role in ensuring that you are following the new habits.
By recording your progress, you remain focused and even be able to view the setbacks that you might come across while achieving the goals. Having a setback doesn’t mean that you failed or lost. Each individual is bound to experience a certain setback and the key lies in being on track as fast as possible.
Overcoming any kind of hurdles that you have in being healthy is a good sign. It is a reminder that you want to be healthier. It might be anything like the energy to play, enjoy with your nephew and niece or be able to carry your own grocery bag. Try to think about the reason on why such kind of change occurs. You must simply decide the first step that you want to take, so that you can be on track.
Here the solution to the problem is to outsmart the obstacles that cross. Like you can walk indoors in the mall or if it is rainy or windy you can walk inside your home. You can always ask your family member or friend for assistance whenever you want and even plan ahead. If you are able to know in advance that you won’t be able to get enough physical activity after work or before work, then you could go for walking after lunch with your co-workers or follow an exercise video to begin your day.
Conclusion
Keep in mind that quality movement always needs good nutrition. So, your movement is quite unique just like your nutritional needs. So, for getting better health you need to move your body and have the required exercise and diet. Never be lazy and start working towards a healthy body.
