It’s time to get honest about my fitness habits. I’ve never been an athletic person or someone who loves physical activity. There are a few things I really love to do that are physically active, like hiking, yoga, and kayaking, but I don’t generally love getting exercise. If I’m being completely honest, most of the time I only get active because I know my body needs it to be healthy. I struggled with creating a fitness plan because I had no definitive start date to implement the plan and no definitive end date to judge whether I’d achieved my goals. Most plans and timelines start in a new year or a new season, aiming towards a holiday or birthday or the next season. But here I am, smack dab in the middle of fall, nowhere near my birthday, no holiday in sight, and I want to rethink my fitness plan. I want to set goals. Where do I start though? Surely I can’t start on a random day in the middle of the year? Well yeah, actually, I can.
The more I put off change until a new year, new season, new month, new week, or even a new day, the more I will prolong real change. The more excuses I will come up with to wait until next month. The more I will change my mind about my goals. The more engrained my habits will become, and the more difficult they will be to break next week. You get my drift. Change starts right now.
It’s never too late or too early to rework and redefine your routine, goals, and plans. Timelines don’t need to be perfect, they don’t even need to exist in some cases. I can just work on living my best and healthiest life right now, every day. Hopefully, my fitness goals will inspire yours, and I hope you’ll share your fitness goals with me, so I can seek inspiration and incorporate your techniques in my working plan (since I can tweak and restart my plan whenever I want, right?). So here it is:
Goal #1: Exercise in a way that makes me happy at least three times per week. This means hiking, walking, yoga, skiing or snowshoeing in the Winter, and dancing (on Friday nights with a beer or two) because I’ve tried the gym multiple times, and it doesn’t make me happy, motivated, or excited. I know myself, and I know I will only work out if it is in a way that makes me eager to get exercise.
Goal #2: Eat healthier. You might be thinking that I’m a total amateur now. How simple is that? How can I just say I want to eat healthier, it’s not that easy! Well, I’ve tried week- or month-long diets and detoxes, I’ve tried cutting things out, and I’ve tried restricting myself. News flash: it doesn’t work (for me). I do a lot better when I go meal-by-meal. Salad or fries? Cake or fruit? Ice cream or yogurt? I am committed to learning to make healthier choices while still satisfying my cravings. I can only meet my fitness goals if I’m happy and excited about it. If I’m mad because I’m missing out on things I love, I’m going to be mad about going out for a hike, I’m going to see health as a chore, and I’m going to be mad about being mad all the time.
Goal #3: Stop waiting for instant results and start celebrating small successes. My biggest problem with keeping fit is that I work myself up to believe that I’m going to see incredible changes in my body instantly. Logically, I know it’s not true, but I’m a sucker for wishful thinking.
I am not a fitness expert and I do not have a lot of experience with fitness. But I want to learn. I would really appreciate the wisdom, tips, and advice from you, our readers. Leave a comment, reach out on social media, or send an email. We can support each other. Thanks in advance!
xoxo,
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