Everybody wants to live a healthy and fulfilling life. In turn, we often implement diet, exercise routines, and other lifestyle changes to achieve this goal. However, setbacks, such as seeing a lack of progress, can happen and can cause us to get discouraged. As a result, many health and wellness goals are dropped before encouraging enough progress is made.
If you struggle with achieving your health and wellness goals, read on for five tips to help you set, maintain, and ultimately reach your wellness goals.
5 Tips To Help You Achieve Your Health And Wellness Goals
- Set realistic goals for yourself. Whether your goal is big or small, starting off slow is important and essential to long term success. For example, if you want to run a 5K, begin with running a few days a week for 10 minutes at a time. As you build up your cardiovascular endurance, gradually increase the frequency. If you want to eat healthier, you don’t have to drop all of your favorite foods, restricting yourself too much or too soon is likely to backfire. Small steps to start will pave the way to long-lasting healthy habits. If you take large steps too soon and restrict yourself, you'll run the risk of burning out and going back to your old habits. So, if you indulge in a cookie or skip one workout, don't use that as an excuse to throw in the towel and discourage yourself. Instead, simply pick up where you left off and go in with an encouraging mindset. It’s important to remember that your health and wellness journey is not about perfection but about progress.
- Practice being efficient with time. Long hours, varying schedules, and demanding careers can make it seem like adding time for working out is too overwhelming or even impossible. However, you don’t need to be hitting the gym every day to be active. If you’re in an office, you can do your body a huge favor by taking quick walks during lunchtime or stretching every once in a while. If you work at home, you can look into getting a standing desk or even squeezing in quick at-home workouts.
- Change it up. Switching up your workouts will not only prevent plateaus in your fitness goals, but it will prevent boredom and burnout. Every couple of weeks, try something new, whether it’s adding high-intensity interval training, taking a new fitness class, or cycling instead of your usual run. You'll work new muscles and find that you see faster results.
- Get a good night's sleep. Sleep is arguably the most crucial step in achieving your fitness and wellness goals. Your body can't function properly or at top potential without proper sleep, and low energy levels easily reduce motivation. Studies also show that lack of sleep interferes with your body's appetite-regulating hormones, which can not only lead to overeating but poor food choices as well. Evidence also shows that sleep deprivation is linked to high levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that is associated with belly fat. Aim to get at least seven to eight hours of sleep per night.
- Reward success. When you achieve a goal that you set, reward yourself by doing something that you enjoy. Eat a donut or buy yourself a new outfit — whatever makes you feel best.
The Takeaway
Reaching your health and wellness goals doesn’t have to be a stressful and overwhelming, seemingly impossible life decision. Achieving your health and fitness goals can be simple and even fun when you approach them correctly and with the proper mindset. If you’re a complete beginner to exercise and dieting, taking small steps will be helpful in the long run, you do not have to go in with an “all or nothing” mindset. Taking one day at a time, doing your best to stay consistent, and following a proper but not too restrictive diet and workout plan will allow you to reach your goals!