5 SMART STRATEGIES TO A DESIRABLE HEALTHY LIFESTYLE .

1. Do not hate the journey. The number one thing I hear over and over when talking with people is that they do not enjoy the workouts they are doing. They think the only form of exercise has to be at the gym, or that you have to do cardio for 1 or 2 hours each day. Find something that you enjoy doing. That being said, I do think that we all need to give everything a chance to see if we enjoy it or not, and sometimes we do just have to do things that we maybe don’t enjoy, but yet we know that it will benefit ourselves, just don’t make that your main form of activity. Don’t rule out anything and give everything a try. You might be surprised to find out what you actually enjoy. But the biggest thing is that what you do as a form of your regular exercise routine is something that you enjoy and that you will stick to. Consistency is everything. Consistency will turn into habit, and let me tell you, it makes life so much easier when exercise and eating healthy starts to just become a non-negotiable with your daily routines, it won’t be easy to get to that point, but trust me, it is worth getting to!

2. Do not complicate things. You do not need a complex workout routine, or an intense two-hour workout for each day, or to make impossibly long healthy recipes every night. Like I said above, find something you enjoy. Trust me, you do not have to try all of these crazy exercises to get the certain muscle toning you desire. You may gladly do them if you enjoy it and want the extra challenge, but if you are new to the exercising world, don’t complicate it. There are many exercises that are considered ‘basic’ and ‘traditional’ but they are staple exercises for a reason, they do the job. So if you are new to exercising, just stick to the basics until you are comfortable or have the curiosity to try out new exercises that are far from traditional! Same thing with eating. If you are anything like me, I am constantly looking to pinterest and instragram for delicious and healthy recipes, but sometimes you pull up the recipe and it is a mile long and it is just way too time consuming. If you have the time, great, give the recipe a try, but trust me, there are so many recipes that are super simple and healthy. Just don’t make it complicated, that is when so many people think the impossible and fail at living and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

3. Do not focus only on the exercise component of living a healthy life. People think that they can outweigh their poor eating with exercise. For the average person this is not just realistic. The average working person does not have time to spend 2-3 hours in the gym working out, and if you do, well good for you, but it is still best to eat the best quality nutrition and meals when at all possible. It will make your training and seeing your results so much simpler and quicker. Focus on your nutrition more and what you are fuelling your body with. You will be shocked at the amount of energy you have and you’ll also notice how much better you feel too! More energy and feeling great overall will give you that desire to go to the gym or go on a hike all of the time. When you have the energy, an activity seems so inviting and desirable, and it will become that much easier to get some sort of physical activity in every day of the week! Nutrition and exercise combined will give you the best results, but they work hand in hand. Just remember where to put your priorities, nutrition is eighty percent of what it takes to hit those goals and to see those results.

4. Do not do this alone! Support and accountability, you need it. Whether you are married, dating, or single, having someone to be able to workout with you and to encourage or cook healthy meals with you is so beneficial. The accountability is huge, even for me who is a health and fitness professional, if I didn’t have Eric, some days would be a total disaster! It is hard to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle, so if you have a spouse or a friend that you can have join you on this journey, it’ll make the world of a difference. When I don’t feel like going to the gym, those are always the days my husband feels like going, and vice versa. Same thing with eating, if I am tempted to just go out to eat, my husband reminds me that we have a meal plan already and that it won’t take long to quick cook our meal up ourselves. Save on money and it is almost always a healthier option. Even if you can’t find a gym partner or don’t have anyone to cook meals with, then find someone to hold you accountable or a mentor or a health coach to check in with you daily or a couple of times a week. Tell someone your goals, writing them out and saying them out loud to someone else is so much more real, then you have that drive inside of you to accomplish those goals because you know someone else is expecting you to reach them because that is what you told them you wanted to achieve! It never hurt anyone to have a bit of drive, motivation, and healthy competition within themselves!

5. Do not be a sceptic with professionals. Yes, there are some sketchy health and fitness professionals out there, but we aren’t all bad. Ask us questions, but then trust our answers and suggestions. Like I said, there are some professionals that will just say things to make you pay more money for a specific type of coaching, etc. but that doesn’t mean that we are all lying to you. Personality says a lot about fitness professionals, just like other careers that people have. If it seems like a questionable answer, ask someone you trust. Speaking for myself, I do not care if you are paying me or not for my services, I still want each and every person to be able to live the healthiest and physically freeing life that they possibly can! I know it is IN everyone to live a healthy and happy life! So if a professional says something to you and you don’t like what they have to say, or you tell us that you have already tried that, think hard again about your response. Have you truly given what we suggested a chance, or did you only try it out for a week or two or four and not see your ‘instant’ results. If you have given something a genuine chance, then that is when you can truly tell us you have tried something and it did not work for you, because nothing is a one size fits all, our bodies are all different and will react differently to things. Just give us a chance and don’t right away rule out our suggestions or tips, we have gone through courses and we continue to take continuing education classes every year as well to keep up with the recent research studies. Don’t be scared, just ask us for help, we love to help!