So you are planning to make a change? But you are struggling where to start? You want to turn things around but you don’t have a clue what to modify or where to begin. Sure you can say you don’t want to be poor anymore or that you want to be more productive, pretty vague I must say, you can then recite a whole list of the changes you want to make in your life; then one would say; how do I even begin? If you want to boil it down, the reason you are not satisfied with what and where you are regardless of the cards that has been dealt for you are the continuous cycle that you perform daily. To put it simply you are the product of your habits.
So then you’d ask again how do you begin changing habits? Well to be honest It will be a long process but hey if I tell you that it will be one of the greatest things that could happen to you and this will make you rich, you would probably do it in a heartbeat right? So yes, let me tell you; these will be the best decisions you’ll ever make for yourself, and it’s up to you to capitalize on this to better your situation.
I will try and make it simple, I will divide the editorial as I see fit, because there are couple of things I would like for you to keep in mind during this journey I will be there with you because I myself am trying to make myself better, because at the end of the day I’m like you. So here we go.
The Habit of exercise
I am no expert in this, but what I know, what helped me and what worked for me I will surely preach. This will not be a scientific editorial rather pointers to keep in mind when you are preparing for a weight loss or weight gain journey I will tell you things that has helped me begin an unimaginable ride.
Increase activity – when you realize that you need to lose weight you should keep in mind that you did not gain that weight overnight therefore you will not lose it overnight, you created that through your bad habits; it sounds harsh but it’s the truth. Creating habits that will make you active will surely get you the results you want. start by changing your daily tasks, if you used to use the elevator to ascend the train station start using the stairs, go for a walk for 10 minutes a day and gradually increase your minutes as you progress, if you used to hop off the bus to the closest stop from your house try hopping out one stop further, buying food through drive thru? step out of the car and buy the food inside the restaurant, changes like this will not hinder your day to day activities as much but it keeps you active, if you do it enough this will set off a new habit that will propel you to greater heights.
Join a Gym– If you have access to a gym and it’s your first time, you must first become familiar with how things work inside the gym, you don’t want to hurt yourself on your first day otherwise all your motivation will just plummet then your back to square one. Research, watch YouTube videos or even better ask people in the gym, the training personnel are almost all the time happy to help you with this kind of stuff. Don’t get intimidated or insecure, I encounter a lot of people who say that they just don’t belong in the gym, I felt this too when I was an overweight kid who just wanted to lose weight, but now that I am no longer a beginner, I realized that I do not look at other people in the gym, nor judge them in anyway or form, in fact all people in the gym are just like you, just trying to make a change, just trying to get better so don’t worry.
Just show up/ Just do it– Making a change in your life is always almost never easy, but since your reading this, you are ready to take on that challenge. So just show up means, just go to the gym, or just go for the walk or run you have been thinking of, start skipping that rope or start doing those push-ups, just do it! I promise you, you will never regret it. The tradeoffs you achieve will be one of the most powerful things that you will experience, how? Well it’s this simple, the person (you) that came out of that gym is better than the one that went inside moments ago, whether its 10 minutes after or an hour after, you’re already better than the old you, because you had the mindset to go and perform what is necessary for your change. The only person who lost is the person who decided not to show up to do what is required of him, but you are unstoppable no one can stop you from your evolution so let’s freaking go.
When planning to create a habit of exercise these are my simple answers, when you want to start a revolution of change start here; having this habit will fire up systems in your body you never thought you have. This is the beginning of unlocking one’s unlimited potential. Like I said, I will only preach what I practiced, and this is where I started.
The Habit of Healthy Eating
This goes hand in hand with the habit of Exercise, as you recreate yourself you are now starting to build a new identity, after you have started being active comes eating healthy or healthier compared to your previous self, this one is not as easy but then again this will increase and make your journey go a little bit quicker and far better than if you skip following this part.
From here on the identity you will start to create will be of a healthy individual chasing something far greater than just a physical transformation. Add this to your list if you think you are not eating healthy. If you think you already are eating healthy then you don’t even have to add or subtract anything in your eating habits just skip this one.
Counting Calories– As a rule of thumb I myself follow the Calories in, Calories out model, what does this mean? Well simple you should be moving more and eating less if you want to lose weight, therefore if you ate a certain amount of calories you would want to use those calories instead of storing them in your body. By the way this mindset is not the end all be all of weight loss or weight gain, there are far more important things than just limiting your knowledge with the calories in, calories out way of thinking, like I said, this is what worked for me in the simplest of ways when it came down to my diet. You can compute the amount of calories you should be consuming depending on your goals here: https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html
Adding Veggies/Greens– Eating your veggies/ greens or adding them into your meals will not only make your meals bigger and satisfying but also healthier, all the vitamins and minerals a person needs mostly must come from whole foods, sure you can buy supplements but that’s why they are called supplements, they are there to supply the add on to the missing vitamins and minerals that you should already be getting from your food. This is simple just eat them.
Substituting– Instead of eating candies for sweets substitute it with fruits, need ice cream, get you a yogurt, cakes and chocolates look around for protein bars or smoothies, there are a lot of ways to satisfy your sweet tooth, in all honesty if you are eating healthy enough and you have space for it in your calorie count by all means go for it, but as you go along this journey, trust me you will be mindful of the things that you put in your body, finding substitutions for all your cravings will be much easier if you think of the nutritional implications of food.
Subtracting– Cutting out unnecessary food items in your diet is not at all a requirement but it is highly recommended, honestly I have never not stopped eating all the things I previously ate, good or bad, but what I most certainly did is limit my intake, alcohol for example is not really necessary for humans to survive, however in order for our social well-being to thrive we drink with friends and or family on special occasions, if you find yourself in these situations go ahead and drink as long as you maintain a level of sanity. Sodas, I love them but also I know that they are just beverages injected with copious amounts of sugar, I still drink them but not as much, and I have learned to drink diet sodas, not only are they calorie free but provides you with the sort of satisfaction from getting the real stuff. Smoking, it took me real quick to quit smoking, because I know that cigarettes does not provide me with any sort of nutritional element, it’s all losses, it costs money, costs time, causes bad breath, stinky fingers and not everyone accepts it, so if you’re reading this quit smoking, this is a battle most people are fighting, I am not an expert in providing advice on how to quit smoking but the way I looked at it, this should provide you with some insight on why you need to stop smoking, it will never help you nor make life better if you continue doing it.
Be consistent– Now that you’ve read what’s written up there, the last task would be consistency, like I said, whatever you are right now is the product of what you consistently were back then. You are the amalgamation of your habits, and one thing is for sure, habits are consistent. These are the things you do on a daily basis, so if you want to change, you must change your ways, your habits, and ones you started changing them for the better; be consistent about it, be the person that those good habits produce.
Good luck and Have fun. This is just the beginning.
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