4 Smart Steps Towards Better Health: Fitness And Focus That Lasts

As the year rolls on, your best intentions and resolutions disappear into the rear-view mirror. The road you’re on leads to more of the same. You have been here before. Going round and round this roundabout isn’t going to stop until you make a decisive exit. If you have got this far, you are already indicating your intention. It’s time to make your manoeuvre.

Follow this roadmap of health and fitness to get you to where you want to go. Don’t try starting off in the fast lane, give yourself time to acclimatise to your lifestyle changes. For better health, fitness, and focus, you need to appreciate the scale of the task and be prepared to fight a little to get past the difficult early rounds of your journey. Learn to focus.

Punching Above Your Weight

What’s holding you back from fitness and better health? The excess pounds are usually what weigh people down and prevent them from making real health and fitness gains that last. Whether you have a lot of weight to lose, or you just want to trim your tum, the first few weeks are the hardest. There is a simple reason for this; the more of you there is, the harder you have to work your body to get the movement you need for exercise.

This creates a negative feedback loop, where getting up and about gets harder, and this causes you to get up less, which causes weight gain, making it even harder to start exercising regularly. You have to push against the force of this feedback loop, like swimming against a current. The good news is that there are some steps along the way that can help stem the tide that is pushing against you and make getting going much easier.

Swimming is great exercise and can help people with obesity symptoms take on their health challenges. Chemist4U has a great guide on the symptoms, causes, and treatments for obesity. There you can learn about the problem, and the more empowered you will become, the more able you are to break the cycle and create lasting lifestyle changes. Focus your mind on the task, and you can stand toe-to-toe with any obstacle in your way.

Walk Before You Run

Small changes, over time, will yield results. Stick to a few simple lifestyle changes, like a regular swim and some alterations to your diet, and you will make progress. Results come quickly at first, the body gets into a new mode quickly, and you can see pounds drop off left and right in the first few weeks, but don’t count on it lasting. Soon the metabolism settles into its new gear, and the easier pounds have fallen off first. Just keep going, even in the face of gains and maintains.

Every time you check your weight you are monitoring your progress, not going through a magic yes/no machine. It does not determine your success, you do. All the black, silver, or white slab of judgement can give you is a number for you to note. This number helps you plan the rest of your efforts for the next week. Sometimes the number is a happy number, and you should enjoy that feeling because it’s real; you did that.

When the number might bring you down it is your job not to listen, but to stare it down with self confidence and determination. That number doesn’t know who it is messing with, and won’t be around next week to bother you. You’re going to kick it to the kerb, and never see it again. You will have moved on to better numbers, the kind of numbers you deserve. When the pounds come down, it’s time to go to town. Your health, fitness, and mindfulness wishes are coming true.

Fitter, Happier, More Proactive

Taking on your excess weight and pushing off the extra pounds opens up new, more effective weight control options. Now, longer-lasting and stamina-building activities are available, like a whole new world of fitness and fun. The three wishes that this magic lamp of lighter weight grants you are simple and exciting: hiking, biking, and jogging.

Hiking shows you your world. Some of the views of your home town might be absolutely splendid. Ask yourself, when did you last take the time to hike? Just a short trip from your living room there is a whole new world, and hiking takes you there. To get even further afield and explore the countryside that surrounds your home, you cannot beat a bicycle. Cardio, stamina, and sights unseen meld into one. On the right day, and in the right weather, a bike trip through the countryside can change your life, like a magic carpet ride above the clouds, showing you the world in a whole new way.

Jogging, walking, or a mix between the two, is the ultimate low-cost weight loss solution for princes and paupers alike. All you need is a comfy pair of shoes, or better yet trainers. Then the world is yours to explore for a few hours of long-lasting calorie burn. Find new places, make new friends. Simply start off from point A and go all the way to point B, and back again. Job done. Discover a whole new world while you keep yourself trim, and you also get to enjoy whatever you want from the fridge, as long as you go on a walk to get the calorie burn into your day.

Making The Most Of Mindfulness

Don’t discount this valuable life skill. It is true that some of mindfulness’s most vocal advocates have given it a bad rep by mentioning it every five minutes. Like vegans for the soul, friends who start using mindfulness and meditation techniques have a habit of dropping needlessly into the conversation, extolling its endless virtues and suggesting it is a solution to all of the world’s problems. This is not the truth, but it can solve a lot of problems you wrestle with inside yourself.

Adding some mindfulness measures and meditation moves can help you pin down some of your inner problems. It can put you on the ropes sometimes, but it can also give you some enlightening insights by letting you step outside of the ring and look at your battles from a fresh perspective. Smell what mindfulness is cooking, and you can become a rock when times get tough. Learning new countermoves to the headlocks anxiety, fear, and self-doubt can put you in.

You can mix mindful arts to form your own fighting style. Yoga blends the body and mind in interesting ways. As you contort your body into new shapes, you can find a balance both within and on the outside. The material and the ethereal snap life into focus, bringing multidimensional balance into your wellbeing. As above, so below. The energy within combines with the energy you are putting out, bringing clarity, flexibility of body and mind, and a warm feeling to your core.

The route to health and fitness is a well-worn track. Many people have come before you and walked, jogged, and run its winding trail. Though it’s bumpy at first, the path to wellness smooths out if you keep going. Progress gets easier, and you do not find yourself going backwards.

When you feel lost, remember these directions, and that you can only take a journey one step at a time. Are you going to take your first step on the road to wellness?