How to (and How NOT to) Adopt Healthy Habits

Have you tried to make healthy changes in your life without success? Did you encounter obstacles that made you feel like giving up? Having the kind of lifestyle that promotes health and wellness takes some work. But it certainly helps when you have an idea of the direction to take.

This is a quick guide to positive ways towards a healthier lifestyle and techniques to avoid in your quest.

The Healthy Way Towards a Healthy Lifestyle

1. Find your Motivation.  The greatest indicator of success in change is knowing why you want to change. Ask yourself questions like:  Why is this change valuable to me?  How will my life be better for making this change?  Who will this change positively impact the people around me?

2. Create a Vision.  Picture in your mind a vision of yourself in optimal health.  How are you different?  What are you doing?  How do you feel?  Create a vision board or some other visual cue to keep you focused on where you want to go.

3. Have a Plan for Obstacles.  Challenges will come, and having a plan to overcome them leads to greater success.  Think through potential stumbling blocks to your process and decide ahead of time how you plan to deal with them.

4. Get adequate rest. You can get better results from anything you do if you get enough rest. When you're rested, you feel more energetic, confident, and committed. Give yourself a head start on a healthy lifestyle.
Remember, rest doesn’t always equate to sleep. Even during your day at work, take breaks to rest. This will keep your mind focused and you’ll feel energized to produce your best work.

5. Design your nutrition for success. Just like with anything else, a good plan helps you achieve your desired results. Spending time designing your diet will pay off for you. Make a list of all the things you have in your fridge and cupboard. Research the nutritional information on these items. Which ones are good and which ones aren't? Replace the bad food choices with healthier options, and then keep the healthy ones coming!

6. Self-acceptance. If you love yourself for who you are on the inside, then everything else easily falls into place. Think of all your positive attributes. What aspects of your being make you most proud? It's very likely you'll find a long list of awesome things to love about you! Embrace them and use them as motivation to persevere.

Avoid These Unhealthy Strategies When Trying to Adopt a Healthy Lifestyle

1. Crash dieting. It's almost impossible to do something well if you don’t dedicate the time to it. That's also the case with crash dieting. Rushing into a diet plan to get immediate results is rarely a successful approach, and the results are only temporary. Crash dieting may give you the end result you want, but it may be at the cost of your overall health. Choosing a sensible schedule of gradual weight loss due to enhanced nutrition and exercise will lead you to a weight you’re happy with and then being able to maintain it as well.

2. Comparing yourself to others.  Each of us is unique.  We each have our own set of strengths, weaknesses, and situations to navigate.  Compare your progress to yourself:  where are you now versus when you started?

3. Erratic workout schedule. Commitment is necessary if you want to get real results from your workout. Setting a specific time for exercise is the best approach for it to be effective. Try to set a schedule you can stick to. If you commit to three evenings per week, make it happen. Vary your exercises and workouts. Choose activities you enjoy so you can look forward to having a more active lifestyle rather than just dreading workouts. Leave everything else behind when it's workout time. You'll get more out of the workout that way.

4. Doing it to please others. You'll never be satisfied with life if you spend time living according to the expectations of others. You have to want something for yourself in order to feel happy when you get it.
Are there unhealthy aspects of your life? Do they affect you or those around you? You first have to recognize and accept the negative impact on your own life. Otherwise, you may not be able to make the necessary adjustments easily.

Adopting a healthy lifestyle may not be easy, but you can do it. This is especially true if you've allowed negative habits to take over for a long time. Pace yourself. Do a little at a time. Pretty soon, you'll realize you have a better quality of life than you ever imagined!