Losing weight and getting in shape can sometimes be the easy part of a healthy lifestyle. After all, something motivated you to take that step and you’re inspired by the prospect of reaching the goals you’ve set for yourself, which helps you stay on track with your diet and exercise program. The hard part often comes after you’ve reached your goal and you have to maintain the gains you’ve made. Sometimes it’s difficult to maintain the diet and exercise necessary to keep your healthy lifestyle going.
Eating Healthy Vs. Dieting
One way to maintain the eating habits that have helped you lose weight is to not think of it as a diet. Diets are something you do for a specific amount of time. Once they’re over you can go back to your old eating habits. At least that’s the mind set that usually comes along with the word “diet.”
If you think of what you’re doing as eating healthy, you can more easily maintain the habit once you’ve reached your weight loss goal. That’s because lifelong weight loss is not about temporarily cutting out the foods that make you gain weight but realizing that your better off eating more healthy foods, and saving those other foods for special occasions.
Figure Out The Exercise Routine That Will Work Best For You
Some people exercise better by themselves while others need the support and encouragement that group exercise provides. If you want to maintain your healthy lifestyle it’s best to figure out what type of exercise routine works best for you and then stick with it. Somethings that might help you exercise more often and stick with it:
1) Getting a dog – People with dogs are more likely to walk on a regular basis than those who don’t have one. Of course, don’t get one only to walk more.
2) Join an exercise group – If you’re the type of person who exercises better with encouragement and support you’ll probably be more likely to stick with it if you’re part of a group that meets regularly.
3) Stop making excuses – one of the most powerful deterrents to maintaining an exercise routine is coming up with excuses as to why everything else is more important than exercising. Just like when you’re trying to save money you have to “pay yourself first” the same applies to keeping up an exercise routine. Nothing is more important in life than maintaining your health so make sure you put your exercise routine at the top of your to do list.
4) Have fun – If you don’t vary your exercise routine, or make sure to include activities that you find enjoyable you’ll find it hard to keep it up once you’ve reached your fitness goals. Group activities, walking your dog, playing on a sports team, are all ways to add some fun activities to your exercise routine. Staying fit should be a regular, enjoyable part of your life, not a chore.
Getting yourself fit and healthy is often the easiest part of living a healthier lifestyle. Keeping it up after you’ve gotten to your ideal weight and fitness level sometimes proves to be harder. As long as you keep in mind that you’re making a real lifestyle change for the better, and not involved in a temporary activity you should be better able to keep up the healthy living for a lifetime.
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Stephanie Frasco wrote this article about getting healthy. She is also the community manager on the www.myreviewsnow.net website.