Every year, people resolve to change their lives and health is the one aspect that is generally focused on. If you want to have some health resolutions, there are a few that you should consider. These resolutions will help you set your own goals and aspirations while getting healthy.
Be Specific About Your Goals
You need to consider what losing weight or getting toned actually means to you. You need to think about how you are going to measure your goals, what you actually want to do, how you are going to get this done and how much is actually enough. When you create a goal or resolution, you need to put it through the SMART test.
When you put your resolution through the SMART test, you have to consider if it is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-framed. If it is not, then you need to take the time to adjust it so that it is and then write it down. An example of a smart goal is that you are going to lose 10 pounds by March instead of having a goal of simply losing weight.
Be Active Whenever You Are Able
When was the last time you hopped into your car to drive somewhere that would take you 15 minute to walk? When thinking about this, you should consider if you absolutely had to drive because you were on a tight schedule or running late. If you were not, could you have walked to the location instead?
This is the basis of the principle of being active whenever you are able. The principle acknowledges that fitting set exercise into your schedule can be difficult or not possible. However, you do not have to pledge to do a set amount of exercise per day because being active whenever you can will be enough. When using this principle, it is important to differentiate between not able to and not wanting to.
Increase Your Fruit And Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are important if you want to be healthy as they provide nutrients and vitamins. It is recommended that you eat 5 to 8 portions of fruit and vegetables per day. This can be a daunting prospect for some people, but if you spread the intake throughout the day it can be much easier to handle.
To achieve this, you should never leave the house without a portion of fruit or vegetables. You could try starting the day with fruit juice, have a salad at lunch and some vegetables with dinner while snacking on raw fruit and vegetables between meals. This will help you reach your portion targets and one of your daily portions can come from a juice-based drink.
Visit The Gym When You Can
A study done by the Fitness Industry Association found that there is a correlation between the frequency of newbie visiting the gym and their future success. The study found that almost 30% of new gym members visited the gym less than once a week during their first month. These people were found to be more likely to drop their membership by the third month than those who visit the gym more often. This means that if you join a gym to help with your health resolution you need to keep swiping your membership card until it becomes a habit.
Be Body Aware
Body awareness is something that you need to focus on as well and you will find that there are many yoga and Pilates aficionados who are not aware of their bodies outside of classes. Your body awareness should not be limited to your fitness class and is something that you have to keep tabs on all the time. There are certain key points that you need to consider such as tight shoulders, a hanging out stomach, hunched shoulders and a tensed jaw.
If you take the time to scan your body regularly throughout the day, you will be more aware of it. You will also become an expert at determining when your posture is incorrect and you will be able to correct it. The bonus of body awareness is that you will feel more graceful, slimmer and taller.
Have A Training Journal
Training journals are not something that only athletes need. Anyone who works out regularly should keep a journal of what they do and include where they are starting. You should also include your SMART goals in your journal.
Many people find that keeping a journal keeps them motivated and will help you better understand what you are doing. If you see a change in your body that you like, you can check what exercises have helped achieve this. If you have a new personal best for your exercise, you can look and see what has created this improvement. You will also be able to prevent injuries when you have a journal because you can see if you are overdoing your exercise.
Get Your Fluid Intake Correct
Many people know that they should be drinking around 2 liters of water per day, but this is not always essential for every person. However, if you are going to be active each day and rarely drink pure water, you need to increase your intake. Cold weather lowers your feelings of thirst, but overheated offices and public transport will dehydrate you. While you might not be feeling thirsty, you need to keep your fluid intake up when you exercise in cold weather.
It is recommended that you intake 1ml of fluid for every calorie of food which is why 2 liters is believed to be ideal for the 2000 calories you are meant to intake. There is a lot of fluid that comes from the foods that you each, water is required because it is cleansing, calorie-free and sugar-free. You should try increasing your intake of water by 500 ml for a few weeks and see if this improves your energy levels, skin and concentration.
Get Tested
If you have casual sex with different partners then you need to be aware of the dangers of an STD. If you haven’t got tested, then use Safer STD Testing to get tested this year. Better safe than sorry.
Find The Balance In Your Fitness Activities
If you have a passion for any specific activity, it can be tempting to only do that type of exercise. While this is something that can be done, you need to be careful of this. It is vital that you have a balance in your activities to ensure that you cover all aspects of fitness from flexibility to cardio. This will also reduce the risk of exercise burnout and injury while catching all of the neglected areas of fitness.
Do Not Be Too Intense
The amount of effort that you put into your exercise needs to be regulated. Research has found benefits of high-intensity exercise, but gentle workouts also offer a range of benefits. It is important that you balance the intense exercise with the gentle ones to ensure that you do not injure yourself or burn out.
Learn A New Activity
Learning a new activity will make it easier to get active. Pledging to learn a new activity such as tennis, Pilates or surfing will help you get into exercise. Your body also becomes complacent when you do the same thing so changing everything up will help you achieve your goals.