5 Powerful Habits To Being Healthy and Feeling Better

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Losing a significant amount of weight, toning up and feeling like a whole new person. A transition that makes you aware of how much potential you truly have. You embrace the challenges life gives you after completing such a feat. You look forward to opportunities to wear your bathing suit, to get dressed up and take pictures of all of these moments. You feel and look even better than before. Everyone notices this new magnetic vibe you seem to elude. Just a few reasons why many individuals take on this journey to improve themselves.

 

Unfortunately, not everyone who starts their fitness journey experiences this sense of accomplishment. According to Wilson and Brookfield, 50% of persons starting an exercise program will drop out within the first 6 months. A demoralizing number considering there is more to weight loss than exercise alone.

 

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Change is not easy, however, it is not impossible. Running a four minute mile was deemed an impossible task until Roger Bannister proved the world wrong with a time of 3:59.4. It took a little bit over a year for someone else to run a mile in under four minutes. Today, it is normal for endurance athletes to to run a four minute mile.

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One of our most successful clients, Rachel Luyben lost over 30 pounds since she started with us. Our hope is that you can learn from her journey to accomplish your own personal feat.

 

1. Make it Easy on Yourself

 

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just go about your day and automatically lose weight without much thought? Turn your bad habits into good habits. The author of Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg, says it best:

“Change might not be fast and it isn’t always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped.” – Charles Duhigg

 

[Tweet ““Change might not be fast and it isn’t always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped.” – Charles Duhigg”]

 

You have to put in a little planning to make this work, but it is key to your success. If you have to rely on will power 3-5 times a day, you are bound to give in to counter intuitive behaviors to your goals after a stressful day.

Rachel plans her healthy habits around her day instead of planning her day around her healthy habits.

“I prefer to get my exercise in early, after the kids go to school that way there is no excuse. I also plan my meals ahead of time and often pack snacks and lunch to take with me.  There is no reason to hit the drive thru if meals are already prepped. “

Initiating change takes conscious effort, so it is vital that you focus on one habit at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed. This is why we incorporate a habit change process into our programs.

“Changing my eating habits and working on portion control has been the hardest. I’m still working on my eating habits, but I try to balance my proteins, carbs, fruits, and veggies. I’m usually pretty good Monday-Thursday, but I still struggle with the weekends. Lean cuisine meals were a go to for me. Even though they are low in fat there is a lot of other junk in there that our bodies don’t need and I try to eliminate from my diet. I try to eat less processed foods and watch my sodium intake.” – Rachel

 

• What to do: Identify a bad habit, the benefit you get from doing it and an alternative to get the same benefit.

 

 

2. Realize You Are Inspiring Others

 

Seguin et al. (2010) found that individuals are more likely to stick to an exercise program if they perceived their fitness professional as a master of a healthy lifestyle. Individuals hire fitness professionals that look the part because they want role models that will inspire them when the journey gets tough. (There are other areas you should also look into when looking to work with a fitness professional.) You are positively influencing others in the same manner when you are living a healthy lifestyle. You have more energy, less stress and you become the inspiration for those around you.

Rachel noticed it first hand when she started making a complete change.

“My husband has lost weight since I started this journey which has encouraged me more.”

 

What to do: Identify loved ones who would benefit from living a healthy lifestyle. Imagine how grateful they would be if they reached their own personal fitness goals after being inspired by your actions.

 

[Tweet “”You are positively influencing others when you are living a healthy lifestyle. You have more energy, less stress and you become the inspiration for those around you.””]

 

3. Add Intensity

 

Adding the appropriate intensity to your program increases the effectiveness of your work out. However, intensity can be increased in various forms according to your goals and fitness level. Be cautious, performing high intensity work outs on a regular basis may not only lead to injury but also burn out. Because of this we aim to get the most out of our clients based on their energy levels that day.

We asked Rachel what she was doing prior to seeing the results she wanted to obtain.

“I went to a local gym 2-3 days a week and would take an aerobics class or workout 30 minutes with a trainer.  The trainer never really pushed me and we always did the standard machines with the standard 3 sets of 10…etc. I wasn’t very motivated to workout.  If I was busy the first thing off my schedule was the gym and exercise.”

Key items that helped her start seeing results.

“I’ve always worked out, but not on a regular basis with the intensity that I do at WPL. I changed the intensity that I was working out at and learned to push myself during workouts.”

 

What to do: Add a metabolic finisher to your work outs to start adding intensity.

 

 

4. Define Your “Why”

 

Our most successful clients have a clear and defined reason as to why they want to be healthy and fit. You can hear the determination in the tone of their voice when you begin asking them about their journey… it’s always inspiring.

Rachel’s Why:

“I lost a lot of weight after my second child was born and then I gained back about half of it. I’ll be honest, it was much harder to get off the weight the second time around and it gets harder the older you are. I think because of that I am more determined to make this a lifestyle change for me and my family”

 

What to do: Identify the underlying reason you want to reach your goal. Write it somewhere that you can see on a daily basis to remind you of your true goal.

 

5. Find Someone Who Cares About Your Success

 

 

There are massive amounts of fitness tips and articles, so why are people still having a tough time seeing the results they want?  Everyone has a specific problem keeping them from obtaining his/her goal. Some of the most common issues we see is a lack of consistency and direction.

This is where finding a knowledgeable person to hold you accountable is vital to your success. The person should care about you reaching your goals and be able to measure metrics that will get you to your goals. Metzgar et. Al (2014) found that accountability to others and social support as a few essential components that ensured women were successful in their weight loss journey. Even fitness professionals will admit that they have someone to hold them accountable.

 

When we asked Rachel who helped her stayed accountable, she responded with

“My trainer Steve, my husband, and my scale. I weighed myself daily and record it every Friday.  We have been doing measurements about every 6 weeks.”

 

 

• What to do: Identify one behavior/habit that will get you closer to your goal and find someone who will keep you accountable. As you make progress you will rinse and repeat this method.

 

The Take Away

 

Cookie cutter programs don’t have high success rates in the long term. These programs fail to meet you where you are, are not sustainable, and don’t make it easy for you to implement in your busy lifestyle. These tips will take different forms to best suit your needs. Remember everyone faces challenges in their path to success even Rachel,

“It’s really hard to get into the mindset to succeed, it is important to just take it one day at the time. “

 

Want Help?

 

Our passion is fueled by the success of our clients because it carries over to other areas of their lives. We use smart exercise programs, nutritional education, health education and coaching to meet you where you are and get you to your goal. We are a private personal training facility located in Wilmington, North Carolina.

If you live in the area fill out this heath questionnaire to receive a free assessment that includes a personalized plan to get you to your goals.

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