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6 Key Health Strategies to Achieve Fitness Goals
Blog post written by Sheila Olson from FitSheila.com
When you’ve decided to become healthy and active on a more regular basis, it’s a good idea to set goals. A critical part of setting fitness goals is making an action plan that includes a big-picture perspective, as well as advice or recommendations for day-to-day choices. Here are a few detailed decision-making tools that can make the day-to-day more manageable.
Portion Control
An article from Harvard Health Publishing mentions that perceptions about what constitutes a portion have changed and can be affected by social or cultural norms. Additionally, eating out can skew our perspective about what a healthy amount of food to eat looks like, since restaurants often serve large amounts in each serving. One way to decrease the amount of food you eat is to exercise portion control. You can do this through using digital scales or measuring cups so you can have more accurate serving sizes.
Wake Up Earlier
Early risers have known for a long time that the practice of “early to bed and early to rise” is a critical part of their formula for success. It can also help reduce stress and improve immune function. If you prefer to sleep in, try setting your alarm for 10 minutes earlier than for when you typically wake up. Once you’ve gotten used to that routine, you can increase the time to 20 minutes and then 30 minutes earlier than usual. This can help you save time and enjoy more of your day.
If sleepless nights make getting up earlier sound impossible, take a look at your sleep space, and particularly, your mattress. Have you had it for the last decade or longer? Has it lost its ability to cradle your spine and keep it in alignment as you sleep? If so, it’s past its prime and should be replaced for the sake of your overall health. Not only will this keep you comfortable at night, but you’re also ensuring you’re not sleeping on a mattress covered in microorganisms like sweat, skin cells and dust mites. Similarly, take steps to darken, quiet and cool your bedroom every evening. You may want to try adding blackout curtains, wearing ear plugs and setting your thermostat around 65 degrees to create a sleep-optimal environment.
A Little Exercise Throughout the Day
It can be hard to find a big chunk of time in the day to get in a full workout, but research also shows that simply making time for exercise progressively over the day is adequate to promote good health. For instance, if you can’t schedule 30-45 minutes of intense workout at once, split it up into some gentle walking for 15 minutes at a time, and do it a couple times over the course of the day.
Find workout buddies
Exercising with other people, whether it’s in a group or with a single partner, can increase the intensity of a workout and help you stay accountable. You can ask a friend or a coworker to exercise with you, but you can also sign up for exercise classes. Classes can be useful if you’re trying to learn new skills but aren’t sure where to go, as the instructor can help you figure out some of the trickier parts of a workout.
Set a Big Fitness Goal
Setting a personal goal, whether it’s to run a marathon or majorly improve flexibility, is an important part of motivating yourself physically to achieve your best health. Choose a goal that you are actually interested in and feel confident about achieving. A big goal can help you set both long-term and short-term goals, and needs to challenge you but still be feasible.
Use Exercise for Stress Relief
Exercising is often recommended as a top stress-relief activity because of its ability to pump out feel-good chemicals and improve your mood. Try to do exercises you enjoy daily, whether that’s going for a bike ride around the neighborhood or walking on the treadmill at the gym.
By eating healthier and controlling portions, getting enough sleep each night, exercising with friends and setting goals, you can steadily improve your overall health. Focus on both the short- and long-term. Fitness is a long journey, but you can achieve little victories along the way to keep you going.