Tag: motivation

4 Tips for Getting Fit in 2019

New Year’s Day may seem like a distant, hazy memory by now (depending on how much fun you had on New Year’s Eve!) but the resolutions you made should be anything but. In order to stick to your fitness resolutions for 2019, it is important to always remain clear with your expectations, and dedicated to the outcome.

Having said that, motivation can be a fickle thing. One day, you might be enthusiastic about your personal fitness goals, and the next you just want to curl on the couch and eat ice cream. Staying motivated is all about removing deterrents – getting rid of any pain, fatigue or disappointment that might get in the way of you achieving your goals.

Here are four tips to help you stay the course, and get fit in 2019:

Get the Right Gear

Without the right gear, exercise can be uncomfortable, and sometimes even painful. First and foremost, it is important to find the right running shoes for your feet, ones that support your arches properly and secure your foot. Without proper footwear, you run the risk of pain and injury, both of which are major deterrents on your path to getting fit. Toss away that ratty old pair, and click here to learn more about chiropodist-approved running footwear.

Buddy Up for Best Results

Exercising with a friend means that you remain accountable to someone other than yourself. And vice versa. It is a great way to stay motivated, stay on track and have some fun while you are at it. Ultimately, getting fit should not be torture; exercising with a friend is a great way to remind yourself of that, and to incorporate a social aspect into your fitness regimen.

Keep Your Goals Reasonable

One of the biggest motivational deterrents people come up against is the disappointment. If you tell yourself that by the end of the month you will have six-pack abs, or that you will lose 30 pounds, you are bound to be disappointed. Humans thrive on a sense of accomplishment; to that end, set small, realistic goals that you can track along the way. It is much better for motivation to succeed at small goals than to fail at a big one.

Understand that Diet Is Part of the Equation

Too many people erroneously believe that, as long as they are active, their diet is inconsequential. As much as we may wish that were the case, the truth is that diet is still a large component of staying fit. This isn’t to say you need to be on a fad diet. But from a simple numbers perspective, ensuring that you do not exceed your daily-recommended number of calories – which you can calculate here – is key to maintaining a consistent weight, and any calories you burn will be represented in weight loss.

With the right shoes, the right friend, the right expectations and the right diet, staying fit in 2019 should be a cinch. Even if you have failed in previous years, following these tips should set you right on the path to success.

How To Make The Most Of Every Day

No matter how old we are, there can be times in our lives when we start to feel that every day is just the same as the last, and nothing interesting or exciting is going to happen. These are days that we wish away, and that is especially true when we are looking forward to a particular upcoming event. It’s a shame when this happens, as with a little more positivity, every day can be a wonderful one, even if nothing ‘exciting’ happens there at all. Here are some of the best ways to can make the most of every day.

Wake Up Early 

Waking up as early as you can is a wonderful way to start the day off well. Make sure you still get enough sleep, though, by going to bed at a reasonable hour!

Whether you live at home with a young family or are on your own, it makes no difference. This is one thing that everyone can do in any circumstance and starting the day in the right way means that you will feel much more positive about everything that comes afterward.

Here is your chance to take some quiet time and to really look at the world around you before the hustle and bustle of the day begins in earnest. Many people are most productive first thing, and if this means you get up early and work so that you have the rest of the day to enjoy yourself, then that makes a lot of sense too. Whatever your reasons for getting up early and no matter where you live or what you do, it will work to make your day a better one.

Be Less Stressed 

Sometimes being less stressed is easier said than done, but you should remember that when you are worrying and stressing about things – particularly things that you cannot change and have no control over – you are missing out on the current moment, and losing your chance to enjoy it. As well as this, you won’t be able to see the future either, and it can all seem rather bleak.

On top of making your day a more negative one, your health can suffer a lot when you are stressed. Physical side effects include:

  • High blood pressure
  • Heart disease
  • Obesity
  • Lack of sleep
  • Headaches

Mentally it can cause paranoia, depression, and anxiety. Stressing as little as possible is, therefore, the best thing if you want to be able to make the most of every day.

If you can work out what it is that is causing you stress; then you can also work out how to combat it and create a plan to alleviate the stress you are feeling. Whether it is down to health, financial worries, your job, or your relationships, there will always be someone who can help you, even if they are just there to listen. It may be that you are simply getting older and require more care. For more information on a possible next step if this is the case, such as assisted living, click here.

Once you have dealt with your stressors, you can certainly make the most of every day.

Eat Well 

Eating is something we have to do to be able to function and, ultimately, to stay alive. The more healthily we eat, the better our bodies are able to function, the healthier we will feel, and the more we can enjoy the days as they come and go. This is why giving up junk food and eating more fruits and vegetables can help to give us a much more positive outlook on life.

You will be amazed at how much better you feel if you stop eating (and drinking) all the things that are bad for you and start eating (and drinking) the things that are good for you. Your energy levels will increase, you will lose weight, you will feel fitter, and you will generally be more ready and able to take on any opportunities that come your way.

As well as eating more healthily, staying hydrated by drinking plenty of water through the day will also help to boost your immune system, keep you feeling healthy, and keep you more productive too.

Exercise 

Trying to make the most of every day may not leave you much time for exercise, but when you realize just how important it is, you are more likely to clear a space in your schedule for it. Regular exercise will make you healthier, of course, but it will also realign the hormones in your body, reducing the number of stress hormones (like cortisol) and increasing the amount of ‘happy hormones’ such as serotonin. When this happens, you will feel happy, less stressed, more at ease, and calmer. You will also be able to see the changes in your body when it comes to your strength and any weight loss that might occur. Since you only need to do around 20 minutes of exercise per day to make a difference, it should be easy to slot it into your schedule, and when you do, you will be able to make much more of every day.

Practice Mindfulness 

Mindfulness means being in the present so that no day is ever a waste. It can be hard to do this, and it is a difficult habit to get into, but once you are able to be more mindful throughout your day you will find that every day is just as important as the last and the next, even if you don’t really do anything or it isn’t an especially memorable one. When you are present in the moment, you aren’t distracted by anything; you are fully focused on what is happening, and enjoy the moment much more. Going for a walk in nature, taking the time to paint a picture that you are concentrating on, reading a book, or sitting quietly and meditating are all good ways to be more mindful. These ideas are much better than watching TV which, although useful for unwinding and something that can be enjoyed as a treat, usually means that you aren’t really in the moment at all.

How to Get Your Life Back on Track

Most people, at one time or another, have found themselves wandering off the path they had envisioned for themselves. Perhaps they wanted to get fit and lose weight, but after a couple of months, they went back to old habits and put those pounds they managed to shed back on. Maybe they wanted an exciting, fulfilling career in nursing, but are now working in an office. Just because you have not achieved the things you want so far, doesn’t mean you can’t get there in the end. Here are some simple tips for getting your life back on track.

Evaluate What You Want from Your Life

As you are not in the place you want to be in life, this is the ideal opportunity to start again and re-evaluate those goals. You want to think carefully about all the areas of your life and if you are happy, or if you can improve them. Give yourself the freedom to aim high and look at any possibilities you can imagine. For example, are you happy with your job? Do you want to live in a different area or country? Once you have thought about all aspects of your life, you can decide what you want to keep doing, and where you want to start making changes.

Set Yourself Goals

Setting goals in life are the perfect way to get your life back on track. However, the way you set and review your goals is as important as the goals themselves. Most people have things that they would ‘like’ to do, or places they ‘wish’ they could go, but these aren’t definitive goals that you can work towards. Firstly, take the list things you want from your life and turn them into specific goals. You want a new job, or you want a new relationship, these are then the specific challenges that you have set yourself which will make it a lot easier to manage.

Make Your Goals Achievable

Although you can set any goal in life that you want, you also want to keep your motivation high because this way, you won’t lose focus. To do this, you need smaller goals along the way that you can achieve and keep yourself on track. If you want to change jobs, then although you might ultimately want to be a nurse, there are other steps along the way that you need to take. You can make one goal to actively look for nursing jobs for one hour each day. Another could be that you will enroll in a course to help you qualify to be a nurse. These smaller goals will allow you to tick them off as you go along and give you a sense of achievement towards the bigger goals.

Give Yourself a Timeframe

One of the reasons that many people fail to meet their goals is that they don’t place a timeframe on them. That means they start to procrastinate and delay doing something until the next day and then the next. To keep yourself on track, you need to give yourself a time limit that the goal needs to be completed. For example, if you want to lose weight, give yourself a target weight and a year to complete it. You can then evaluate your goal as you go along to see if you are on track.

Allow Yourself to Have Fun Along the Way

If you are too hard on yourself, you might start to get demoralized or unhappy. To combat this, you should add some fun into the equation, so you aren’t always thinking of the ultimate goal at the end. For example, if one of your goals is to change your look, then allow yourself the opportunity to have some fun with it. Spend some time in the stores trying on new clothes to see what suits you, you can even take some friends with you so that you can ask for advice. Try different hairstyles, makeup and perhaps even change your eye color with some contact lenses. You can read this guide to how they can change your look and which to choose. By adding fun to the process, you are achieving your goals without even realizing it.

Think Positively

Few people get the things they want from being negative; in fact, they will usually miss their goals because they don’t believe in themselves! Part of achieving your goals is to think positively about what you want and believe in yourself that you can get there. If you are struggling to achieve a positive mental attitude, then there are a few techniques you can learn to help you. You can create phrases and pin them to a board in your office or on your mirror at home. It needs to be somewhere you can see them often and reaffirm your thoughts. Once you have been doing this for a little while, you will see that it starts to improve your thoughts and makes you feel more confident about yourself.

Don’t Beat Yourself Up

Even with all of these tips, there might be some goals that you can’t quite manage to hit in the time you set. If you miss a goal, don’t get too upset, simply reset it and give it a longer timeframe or make the goal a little easier. Once you have achieved it, you can go back and continue with the original plan. The important thing is not to give up and say you can’t do it, because this will cause the whole plan to slip. Think about the bigger picture and the ultimate goal you set. Even the most successful people made mistakes, the difference is that they didn’t give up, they kept going until the achieved what they set out to do.

The most important part of the plan is getting started; this can be the part where you procrastinate the longest. However, if you start today and make your goals, you can soon be in the place you wanted or doing that dream job.

3 Ways to Put the Fun Back into Working Out

Do you ever make elaborate workout plans than abandon them a week later? Do you hit the gym but quit within a week because exercising is just too boring? Do you struggle with motivation issues every time you hit the treadmill?

You’re not the only one. Millions of people around the world struggle to fit their fitness goals. In fact, “working out” is the number one New Year’s resolution around the world. It is also one of the first resolutions people break each year.

People abandon their fitness goals for any number of reasons. But one of the most common ones is simply because of boredom. Conventional workout programs are often too repetitive, tiring, or long for busy, fatigued people.

Fortunately, there are some ways to make working out fun again, as I’ll show you below:

1. Measure Your Progress

Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, used to say: “If you can measure it, you can manage it”.

In the context of fitness, measuring progress equals managing your motivation. You’re more driven to working out when you can see the results in objective, tangible numbers. Instead of guessing whether you’ve lost weight or gained muscle, regular measurements give you clear evidence of your progress.

As studies show, this has a positive effect on your motivation. If you weight 180lbs last month and 174lbs today, you have clear evidence that your workout program is effective.

There are countless things you can measure:

  • Weight & waist
  • Individual exercises (total weight lifted, total reps, one rep maximum, etc.)
  • Total time or distance on treadmill/stationary bike/etc.
  • Total steps or calories burned each day

Thanks to fitness trackers, measuring these numbers is easier than ever. Keep an eye on their progress and you’ll never struggle with motivation issues again.

2. Add Some Music to Your Workouts

The easiest way to make workout out more fun?

Easy: just add your favorite tunes to it.

Studies show that people have better workouts when they listen to music. The more the music is aligned to their tastes, the better the quality of workouts.

The reasons for this are simple: music is known to alleviate fatigue, improve concentration, and increase mental alertness. Music also creates a Pavlovian response – people feel in the mood for exercise when they hear music they associate with working out.

This is the easiest tip to adopt on this list. Just grab a pair from this list of the best earbuds under 50, throw together a playlist with your favorite tracks, and hit the gym.

3. Change Workout Routines

If you’ve been working out for a while, there is a chance you might have hit a plateau. Your lifts and runs aren’t increasing anymore. And you seem to have hit a dead end in terms of losing weight or gaining muscle.

When you stop making progress, putting together the motivation to workout can be immensely hard. After all, if you don’t improve, what’s even the point of tiring yourself?

If this happens, consider changing up your workout routine. Ditch whatever you were doing and start something entirely new. If you were on a weightlifting program, consider switching to a calisthenics program instead. If you were only running for cardio, consider switching to rowing or cycling.

The goal is to give your body something new to work with. Picking up a new program will also give you new records to achieve, which can further improve motivation.

Getting the motivation to stick to your workout schedules can be hard. Follow these tips anytime you feel that working out isn’t fun anymore.