Top 3 Mistakes People Make When Trying To Get Healthy
By Orla, June 12, 2014
Trying to get healthy is never an easy task and those of you who have tried and failed in the past will know just how easy it is to fall off the bandwagon.
You have to really want it for yourself if it’s going to happen, but even still, sometimes you might not make it to the finish line because of simple mistakes you didn’t even realise you were making. Set yourself up for success this time and avoid these 3 common mistakes:
1. Making it all about losing weight
Trying to get healthy and trying to lose weight are two completely different things. If you try to get healthy with your primary focus being weight loss, you’re setting yourself up for failure before you even begin.
If you are overweight, weight loss is a happy and undeniably amazing side effect of getting healthy, but it shouldn’t be the sole reason behind your aim to improve your health.
2. Not having a solid support network
In order to get healthy, you’re presumably going to have to change a lot about your lifestyle, eating patterns, routines etc. That is no easy task. The truth is; it will be challenging and it will be really hard to stick to your guns and you’re only human, you can’t do it all on your own.
Having a great support network of friends and family there to help motivate and encourage you, or even just to listen to you moan when the going gets tough will make all the difference in the world.
Not only this, but this support network will keep you accountable for what you’re doing. Having people check in on how you’re doing will remind you of your goals, whereas if you keep your healthy plans to yourself no-one will know or care if you fail, making it all too easy for you to throw the towel in when it gets hard.
3. Failure to plan ahead and prepare, always
Things are not going to magically fall into place, not everywhere is going to have a “healthy option” available for lunch. If you’re feeling hungry and have no lunch with you and the only things on offer are cheesey pasta bakes, burgers or crisps, you will slip back into bad habits.
Do a weekly grocery shop and stock up on fruit and veggies and prepare them ahead of time. For example, make a big batch of fresh fruit salad that you can bring to work in plastic containers everyday.
Or when you’re making a delicious salad for dinner, make two portions and voila, you have a healthy lunch sorted for tomorrow already.
Similarly you need to set time aside for exercise and stick to it. Don’t tell yourself “I’ll do something later” because if a good film comes on the television and you have no solid plans made, it will be all too easy to give exercise a miss for the day. Making solid plans and preparations are what will keep you on the right track.
