If you’re someone who has never exercised regularly before, trying to start can be incredibly overwhelming and discouraging. Many people are afraid of failing or quit too soon because they don’t see immediate results. Sometimes it’s also too easy to fall back into old habits. To help you make real changes in your health and fitness, here are four tips to get you started:
- Don’t overwhelm yourself. Small steps are absolutely crucial when it comes to changing any part of your life. Start with adding small, positive habits into your day, such as a 10 minute walk before work, during lunchtime, or after dinner, or stretching when you get up in the morning. Eventually, add in short workouts and then increase the number of days and/or the length.
- Prepare your home for a healthier lifestyle. For example, get a few small, handheld weights to keep at home, clean your fridge and pantry out, or take some time to search YouTube or Pinterest for short, simple beginner workouts and save them for when you’re ready to add in a workout.
- Have a big vision, but create small goals. When you’re stuck in the day to day, it’s hard to see WHY you’re doing all this hard work. Create a larger vision of what you imagine your life will be like once you’ve incorporated exercise for some time. Now, focus on smaller, achievable goals that you can build your confidence on, such as running a mile, going up in weights, losing 5 lbs, etc.
- Be consistent and give it time. So many people quit early on because they don’t see results right away. It took you years to become the person you are now, so understand that it will take weeks or months to start seeing results. However, if you’re consistent with exercise, you will start to feel your results first, both in endorphins and in feeling stronger, more capable and happier. Focus on these mental victories rather than the physical ones and you’ll be much less likely to quit.
