Never Give Up!

So happy to see you again. Wishing you more happy health!

“Never, never, never give up.” – Winston Churchill

Have you heard this famous quote before? I bet you have – and I bet you have even reminded yourself or others of this sentiment when things got tough or when you weren’t achieving your desired results as quickly as you would like. How many times have you given up though? Probably more times than you’d like to count, right? I know I have.

Strictly talking about health and fitness here – there will be times in which you will become frustrated and want to quit. You may feel you are doing all the right things by working out regularly and eating healthfully and yet you are not seeing the results you desire. You will come to a point where you will want to give up. Never give up! The first thing you need to do is honestly evaluate your fitness routine, your eating habits AND your lifestyle at home and at work. I’m going to give you a few things to consider if you find yourself at the crossroads of Quit and Continue .

Your diet – are you really eating as healthy as you think you are? This is where a food diary or web-based nutrition tracking system will come in handy. Write down or input everything you put into your mouth (including water) for at least one week. A couple of things will happen within that week. The first is that you will become more aware of what you eat and you will make better food choices. As a result, you may actually see some improvements in that very first week. At the end of the week, make sure you evaluate your diet. Are you getting the right amount of calories and nutritional value from the foods you are eating? Are you consuming too many empty calories or fatty foods? Maybe you aren’t getting enough calories and your body is holding onto the weight because it’s sensing starvation. There is a fine balance between too little and too many calories. I recommend SparkPeople for tracking both your diet and fitness plans. I am in no way connected to SparkPeople, I just find this free site to be extremely helpful in achieving my health and fitness goals.
Your Fitness Routine - are you really pushing yourself harder each workout? You have to be your own best personal trainer in order to push yourself to go faster, lift more, jump higher, squat lower, etc. It’s easy to just go through the motions and call it a day. It’s hard to push yourself a little more each workout. Evaluate your fitness routine and set some goals for yourself. If you normally do 20 minutes on a cardio machine – increase it to 30 minutes. You should also adjust your intensity, incline, and workout mode every few weeks. If you are doing weight training, set goals for yourself to lift heavier weights or do more reps. You may also want to change up your current routine. Find substitutions for current body-part exercises. The slight variances will task your muscles in a different way and your body will have to work harder to adapt to the new moves. The biggest things to remember here is to change your routine, even slightly, every four to six weeks and increase your intensity or length of time you exercise. Don’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results.
Your Lifestyle – are you sitting on your butt all day? Most people do. Technical advances such as the computer and video games are directly related to the increasing rate of obesity around the world. If your only form of physical activity in the day is the 30 -60 minutes you spend in the gym, you may be breaking even on the calorie in/calorie out meter – at best. If you want results, you have to find ways to incorporate more physical activity into your day. All the little things like parking farther out in the parking lot, taking the stairs, walking the dog, taking walking breaks during the day, playing with the kids, cleaning the house, and mowing the lawn all add up in the day. You may also want to look for recreational activities that are more physical in nature as well. You might consider scheduling a hike with family and friends or make date night into a night of dancing. There are ways to incorporate more physical activity into your lifestyle – you may just need to be a little creative.

I hope these tips help you break through your current plataue or prevent you from reaching one. Make sure you evaluate honestly, set new goals, and push yourself every day to do more and NEVER GIVE UP!

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