If you haven't seen her post, you can see it here: Feeling overwhelmed and how I'll make a change
This isn't my first go around for trying to diet and exercise with friends. In fact Jodie, Rachael and I tried to get fit and in shape last year together, although this just meant circuit training one evening a week and then having a home cooked meal together after. We even tried to do Couch to 5K, and I can't speak for the other girls, but I failed miserably at that by going running once and then never doing it again. Hopeless!
I don't know why my motivation is different now, seeing as I had my friends for support all the other times too, although none of them were quite as regulatory as Jodie is as my personal trainer (^_^). I think once you have made the decision to really commit to it, really really commit, it becomes a little easier.
Anyway, once you have made that commitment, you can absolutely throw yourself into it. You can eat healthy salads for all your meals, cut out your sugar and your dairy, exercise everyday, or twice a day. You can go nuts to see results. But for the average person, especially one who has not really dieted or exercised seriously before, and who also has their regular everyday busy life to contend with, this can be exceptionally hard and it may not be conducive to the needs of your important routines. Or maybe the very idea of beginning a diet or exercise regime scares the heck out of you because of all it will entail in changing your life?
Baby Steps cannot be underestimated as a legitimate dieting plan. If you cannot manage it all, if you cannot completely change your life to focus on your new exercise and calorie counting regimes, then baby steps are still going to make a huge difference in the end.
Goals
When we first came up with the idea of the pact, along with writing down our measurements and finding out our healthy weight through a BMI calculator, Jodie had us write down our goals. That's right, GOALS, plural. We could have more than one, and this could cover different areas. I had multiple weight goals I wanted to reach. There was my ultimate goal of 59kg which meant I had to lose 10kg/22lbs total. There was my middling goal of 63kg, which has been my normal weight for as long as I can remember. There was also an easier reachable goal of 66/67kg which would put me back into the "normal weight" section of the BMI calculator. That way, even if I was only able to make small changes to my life, I would have the opportunity of reaching at least one of my goals and feeling accomplished.
I also made other small goals such as being able to walk up the stairs to my office without wanting to sit down and wanting to huff and puff at the top, and learning to like at least 3 more vegetables. Simple, small goals that eventually can go a big way towards building your confidence and seeing results.
Changing Your Diet
So you're a picky eater (like me), or too busy with life things to really make time to cook and research healthy meals. Making big changes to your diet will then feel incredibly daunting as well as time consuming. But take baby steps! Look at what you're doing now, write down what you eat during the week, and see where you can make a few changes.
If you eat out a lot or get take out to indulge in big unhealthy portions of food, cut down on how often you do this, or what you choose off the menu. Many menus have Under 500 Calorie options now like Olive Garden, and Applebee's has a Weight Watchers symbol next to healthier food options. Look up the meals on your Fitness app!
If you eat a lot of sugary treats and are finding it hard to give them up (sugar is so addictive so cutting it out completely absolutely leads to withdrawal-like symptoms), cut down on what you do eat without cutting them out altogether. I still eat Cookies and Cream Hersheys Kisses now and again during the week, but I don't sit down and eat the whole bag as I used to, and I managed to cut out dessert by satisfying my sweet tooth after a meal with 3 or 4 Cadbury Mini Eggs.
Changing Your Exercise
I used to be incredibly lazy and take the elevator up 2 floors in my office building. I now always take the stairs. It's not much, but it'll make a small difference! I go to a couple fitness classes a week, but if you can't do that, do a DVD from home, or check out our exercise links on our website for free exercise videos. DVD sessions tend to be about 30 minutes long, but even if that is hard to make time for, online videos can last as long as 5 minutes!
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| Image Courtesy of Cassey Ho. Click here to check out the video |
So you can't work out everyday, or for hours. Small exercise sessions are going to help your endurance and fitness levels and may help you at least stop gaining weight, even if you cannot do them often enough to lose some quickly!
Thinking Long Term
Baby steps may not seem like much, but they start getting you used to thinking about fitness until it'll become natural to you, and natural to step it up a notch. Once you get used to drink 2 cups of water a day for a few weeks, it's going to be so much easier to up it to 3 or 4. Once you do some 5 minute exercises a few times a week, you'll start building up your endurance and fitness levels to be able to eventually do 10, 15, 20, 30 minute sessions and more often. If you cut down on your sugar and fatty foods intake, but not cut it out completely, when you find the time to dedicate to eating healthily it won't be so hard to give things up because you'll be halfway there!
You may not have the time, the energy, or the motivation now to completely change your life around, but start working now in small ways to change and then when time becomes available, it's going to be so much easier for you. Don't delay! Start today.
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