When it comes to health, everyone has a different idea of just what being healthy really means. Some view being healthy as magazine cover fit. Others want to gain muscle or speed for a sport they love. Many, including myself just want to healthy enough to feel good and be able to look in the mirror without cringing.
No matter where you want to be here are 6 steps you can take to get healthy with less effort.
Step One: Clearly Define Your Health Goals
Start by knowing where it is you are trying to get to. This may seem obvious, or even unnecessary, but how you are trying to improve is going to make a difference in what you do. Be specific with your goals. For example, when you set a goal to “lose weight,” you need to go further and add how much do you want to lose and when? A clear and specific goal keeps you motivated and on track.
Step Two: Find an Activity You Enjoy
It’s important to choose an activity you enjoy and make it part of your routine. If you are not only trying to motivate yourself to move more. Motivating yourself to move more doing something you despise is just asking for failure. Find an activity you can look forward to that won’t feel like a chore.
Step Three: Set Realistic Expectations
Setting realistic expectations for staying motivated and on track is important. You don’t want to set expectations that will never in a million years happen, because you will likely just get discouraged and quit altogether.
One technique you might try is setting a range of goals: Good, Better and Best. That way you have some leeway and you will hopefully reach at least one level so you will still experience a feeling of success.
Step Four: Make a Plan
Once you know your goals and what you need to do to reach them, it’s time to make a plan. This detailed step-by-step plan should outline exactly how you will reach your goals. Include both short-term and long-term goals to track your progress along the way. These short-term and long-term goals could also relate to the good, better, best options I mentioned above. Keep it simple. Remember the goal is to get healthy with less effort. Don’t over complicate things.
Step Five: Stay Accountable
Find someone who will hold you accountable, like a friend, family member, or even a personal trainer. When you have someone, you trust to check in with you regularly will help you stay on track and motivated. If you are an avid social media user, you could even use your social media audience to hold yourself accountable.
Step Six: Reward Yourself
A key step to keeping yourself motivated is to give yourself a reward once reaching one of your goals. This can be small, like buying yourself a new workout outfit or treating yourself to a spa day at home. Whatever reward you choose, ensure that it’s something that you’ll look forward to so that you can stay motivated. Just don’t make it something that will undo all of your hard work.
6 Simple Steps to get Healthy with Less Effort
Reaching your health goals doesn’t have to be complicated. You can make it happen with minimal effort by following these simple steps.
- Be clear about your goals
- Find an activity you enjoy
- Set realistic expectations
- Make a plan
- Stay accountable
- Reward yourself along the way
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