With the start of the new year, most people are creating resolutions to better themselves in 2019. The most common goal that people have, myself included, is to be healthier and get more fit this year. The start of the new year was the push that I needed to finally make a change in my lifestyle and hopefully make some real progress towards living a healthier life. We are still only a few weeks into the new year, but I’ve learned that the first weeks of making a real change can be the hardest. I’m still in the process of figuring out how to create a sustainable, healthy change in my life, but these are a few lessons I’ve learned so far.
Be Patient
This is the lesson that I’m still having the hardest time wrapping my head around. Setting out to completely change your lifestyle is incredibly daunting and will not happen without some setbacks. I personally struggle with being too hard on myself and expecting change to happen immediately. Realistically, large changes cannot happen overnight, no matter how much we want them to. Re-training your mind and body is a tremendously long process that takes a lot of patience and perseverance to be successful at.
Take care of your mental health first
This is another reason that I decided that 2019 would be the time to make a change. I was able to find a therapist to start seeing at the beginning of this year which has been essential to helping me adjust my mindset. I personally know that my emotions and my mental state are directly linked with my eating habits and my ability to take care of my physical health. Seeking professional help for my mental health has been a very helpful first step to trying to make changes in my diet and exercise.
Rest is important
This concept is also hard for me to really understand, but it is so important. I always thought, more exercise is better right? Going to the gym every single day is healthy right? It turns out that this is not always true. If you’re lifting weights at the gym like I have been, it’s extremely important to take rest days in between to allow your muscles to repair themselves. Pushing yourself too hard, especially with weight lifting, can lead to injury and can even stunt your progress. Make sure to listen to your body and take rest when you need to.
Make working out your “self-care” time
I’ve been working on changing my mindset about going to the gym and working out by thinking this way. Instead of thinking of working out as being a chore, I’ve started to value it as my time of the day where I’m taking time to just work on bettering myself. I love going to the gym with friends and having a workout buddy can make things more fun, but I also love having “me time” with just myself and my music. Find things at the gym that you actually enjoy so that working out feels like something you can look forward to, rather than something you have to force yourself to do.
Every body is different
This is one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned so far with the help of my therapist. I definitely get caught up in researching all the different “rules” that health and fitness people on the internet live by. However, the truth is that these people will all tell you different things. One person said to eat every 5 hours without snacking, but another said you should be eating every 3 hours?? While some of these can be helpful to try out, it’s so important to focus on what YOU and YOUR body needs. Just because something works for someone else, that does not mean that if you follow it religiously it will work for you too. These first few weeks are the hardest because it is such a learning process, but just keep listening to your body and adjusting accordingly. Don’t be afraid to change your plans as you go; this is something I have already done multiple times.
The 80/20 mindset
Now I just told you to listen to yourself and not to others, but this one has actually been really helpful for me. I like this “rule” because it is very general and can just be used as a way to keep you feeling positive about your progress. The idea is to try and make your diet 80% healthy and 20% not so healthy. Whenever I have set out to change my eating in the past, I have always expected myself to eat 100% healthy all the time. The problem with this, as I’m sure you know, is that it is not realistic! I set myself up for failure every time I set unrealistic expectations for myself like these. The most important thing when it comes to diet is balance, meaning that during the day I try to make healthy choices, but I am learning to not beat myself up when my friends want to order pizza on the weekends. No matter what, remember to be kind to yourself and try to not get hung up on these speed bumps along the way.
Lay off the alcohol
I never knew this one until I started doing more research, but alcohol can seriously set back your progress at the gym. If you are working on building muscle and getting stronger, alcohol can actually prevent that. Alcohol has been shown to prevent muscle growth as well as slow your recovery time between workouts. This is because alcohol impairs your body’s protein synthesis process, which is essential to building and repairing muscles. As always, moderation is important, but don’t be surprised if you need an extra rest day after a night out.
As I’ve said throughout this piece, everybody is different! These are just a few things that I have found helpful throughout these past few weeks, but I still am just beginning. Everyone is on their own path when it comes to health. If you take anything away from this, it should be to treat yourself with patience and kindness no matter what. Have a wonderful and healthy 2019!