tiarefitness

I’ve been talking to quite a few people about fitness lately and many of the struggles people mentally go through, preventing themselves to get healthy. They look at the gym and proper food intake as some far destination that is too complicated when it is really quite simple. You have got to WANT to be healthy. You have to WANT to TRY. There is no quick, easy fix that will suddenly make you some skinny model you visualize in your head. Slow and steady progression is the best way to go. You need to gradually do little, or big things to improve your health. You have to have a goal in your mind, and you have to be open to new things. I don’t care who you are but if you don’t believe you can do something, you probably wont. If you hate “change” you’ll probably stay the same. An open mind, and open-heart….a recipe for a new, improved life.

Here are some small changes I thought of to help you get to your goals:

1. When shopping at the grocery store, stick to the outside aisles of the store. The center of the store is full of processed food you should be avoiding. Just don’t even tempt yourself and stay on the outsides.
2. Create a shopping list before you go to help you stay on track.
3. Don’t shop when you are hungry…hahaha trust me you will end up with everything under the sun to cure your current cravings but it will not look pretty on your waist-line.
4. Purge your kitchen of anything bad for you. Remember, out of sight, out of mind.
5. Make food in bulk, and refrigerate for future week meals if you need something convenient. (Ex. Chicken breasts cook all at the same time then you can add them to salads or other meals…or chop up veggies and fruit in easy-to-go containers if you are a busy person.
6. ONLY BUY WHOLE WHEAT/WHOLE GRAIN. Stay away from anything white. No pasta unless its whole-wheat if you must.
7. Keep water bottles with you everywhere. Get used to drinking it all the time. Sometimes your brain tells you its hungry when really, you’re just not getting enough water.
8. Create a health/fitness challenge with friends or coworkers for support and a reason to try harder.
9. Get a personal trainer
10. Join a running club
11. Sign up for a 5k, or half-marathon so you have something to progress towards.
12. Find a workout partner
13. Get rid of your cable. Or even your TV all together. I do not watch television. It wastes time watching other people on TV. Do something valuable with your time
14. If something is in walking distance, walk. Stop driving because you’re lazy.
15. Go on a walk or run. Experience nature
16. Try yoga. Try meditating. It honestly helps your whole life come together when you spend small periods of time reflecting on your life and where you want to be.
17. Write a list of your goals for fitness, life, relationships….and start planning it.
18. Create a vision board. I always do these about once or twice a year. Life is about the Law of Attraction. Sit down with a set of all your old magazines and cut out what you want to become.
19. Read motivational quotes!
20. Plan something at least once a week with friends like hiking, paddleboarding, snowboarding, walking, running, kayaking, that you can do together. You don’t need to maintain your relationships only in bar settings.
21. Cut back on alcohol.
22. Plan your workouts at the beginning of the week. Treat your gym schedule as a second job. This is my BIGGEST TIP. I have been doing this for years because I overly plan everything…but it helps. Then you schedule what you do with others around it or invite them to join you.
23. Create a fitness blog. Let people know what you are doing and take your measurements and set a goal. When other people know you are going through change like this, they often help, or cheer you on which makes you feel like it is something you should stick with.
24. Eat a large healthy breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
25. Replace peanut butter with almond butter; replace regular milk with almond milk. Go Paleo.
26. Take before and after photos and keep track of your improvement, it’s motivating.
27. Find someone to idolize. Find a healthy figure that inspires you. With me, my inspiration is Kelsey Byers, who is extremely motivating in cutting out alcohol, practicing clean eating, and competing as a fitness-athlete when at one point in her life, she was very overweight.
28. Write down what you eat. There are great apps, my favorite being myfitnesspal.com, which tracks your eating, water-intake, as well as cardio and weights.
29. Drink tea.
30. Remember that in order to be healthy, you must try. You must WANT to make changes not only for your appearance, but also for your heart and mind.