5 Way to Stay Focused on Your Health in 2021
Have you set some health goals for the coming year? Many people do – yet most of them go unfulfilled when New Years’ rolls around. Staying focused on your health goals in January is easy. But maintaining that focus month in and month out, as the challenges and distractions of life kick in, is a real challenge. In this article, we reveal 5 tips to help you stay focused on your health all year long.
Get a Fitness Tracker
Fitness trackers are all the rage nowadays. They are worn like watches and allow you to monitor all of your fitness diagnostics, including an analysis of your sleep habits. Fitness trackers also provide you with an element of competition, both against yourself and against others, that will keep you focused and motivated.
Reinforce Your Goal Daily
Establish a major fitness or physique transformation goal for the year. Make sure that it follows the SMART acronym by being specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound. The goal should also be written in the present tense, as if it was already achieved. Here is an example of a goal that follows the SMART guidelines . . .
It is January 1st, 2022 and I am at 16 percent body fat with a waist measurement of 36 inches.
Once you have established your goal, print out copies of it. Place one in your wallet or purse, another on your bathroom mirror and a third on the fridge door. Set the goal to read that message at least five times per day.
Learn About Nutrition and Fitness
Taking in knowledge about nutrition and fitness can do two things for you; it will liberate you from the myths and falsehoods that both topics are mired in and it will increase your ongoing motivation to exercise.
The internet provides you with a wealth of information on both nutrition and fitness. A lot of it, however, is useless, with some of that being downright dangerous. As a result, you need to be discerning in your choice of information provider. We recommend using such authority websites as healthline.com, webmd.com, draxe.com and smarttraining365.com.
Don’t Expect Instant Results
Too many people expect quick results when it comes to body transformation. When they don’t see it, they get discouraged and give up. The reality is that real, lasting results are pretty slow in coming. In terms of the scale, people often lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, so that their weight doesn’t change, or even goes up slightly.
Rather than focusing on seeing body changes in the first few months, set your mind on ingraining the health and fitness lifestyle in your life. Become a regular exerciser, adjust to a 30 percent protein, 30 percent low glycemic index carbs and 40 percent healthy fat diet along with a few select dietary supplements. Do those things and the results will take care of themselves.
Remove Obstacles
There will always be obstacles to exercising and following a healthy diet. Even when they don’t actually exist, our mind is very good at creating artificial obstacles. You need to anticipate those obstacles and make plans to overcome them. One way you can do that is to have your training bag and your workout gear set out the night before you plan to go to the gym.
Have a backup plan in case you simply cannot get in your planned workout. Have a simple ten minute body weight exercise routine that you can do, or at least go for a brisk walk when you can’t fit in your scheduled one hour gym session. Plan, too, for eating on the run. Have such healthy on the run snacks as hard boiled eggs, chopped up celery sticks, nuts and fruit on hand.
