I was recently asked for some advice on getting healthy / losing weight. After giving it some thought, I realized I had a pretty simple answer…so here it is:

One of my best pieces of advice, is that if you have a spouse / partner / friend that you are close with, is to go on an excercise / diet plan WITH him/her. It is so much easier to lose weight and get healthy when you are doing it with someone that you care about, and that supports you. Not only this, but it gives you a system of accountability also. It is much harder to let somebody else down than you.

Next, you will want to set some sort of goal. Perhaps you want to lose a certain amount of weight. Maybe you want to be able to run 3 miles nonstop, perhaps a marathon! Maybe you want to quit smoking, or eating cupcakes, or stop drinking coffee. Whatever your health goals are, write it out and keep it around somewhere that you can see it often.

Now that you have an idea of WHAT it is that you want to do, and you have the family on board, it is time to make a plan. This will be different for every person based on what it is that they want to do. Something to keep in mind is that this will NOT be easy, there is no real “quick fix” to getting healthy. You will definitely have to make some major changes. Here here is a general list to help 80% of you out…again this may vary for some of you:

1. Get rid of all of the junk food sitting around your house. You cannot eat what you do not have access to.
2. Put together a grocery list of healthy foods that you will want to eat. Go get about a week’s worth. If you plan on eating any cooked meals, try to spend your day off fixing meals for the week. This will prevent you from going out to eat because you don’t have anything to eat and don’t feel like fixing something. The biggest reason for people skimping on their diet is lack of the right thing to eat, and too much of the wrong thing. Keep yourself stocked on good stuff.
3. Start exercising. This can be small at first. If you are a couch potato then simply GET UP and go walk. Start off with some light walking, then move to alternating between walking / jogging / running. Eventually you will get in shape and enjoy exercising. Even if it means getting up 30 minutes earlier in the morning, JUST DO IT. Here is a great article to help you with this: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml
4. Have fun, and don’t be hard on yourself. You will likely make mistakea and eat bad things or miss excercising from time to time, but the thing to remember is that you are only human and that you are improving. Never look at how much weigh tyou still have to lose, but instead try to b excited about the fact that you are getting better and how much you have already accomplished. Reward yourself often for every milestone that you achieve. (WOOT, I went a day without chips, YAY I went jogging for the first time in 5 years! SWEET I didn’t watch TV all day!)
5. This should be a life change, not a short term attempt to lose weight. Keep in mind that you are being a role model for your kids, and that the healthier and happier you guys become, the more that will impact their futures as well. (If you don’t have kids, then just think about other people in your life)

As far as healthy foods goes, you can probably just search Google for that. I cannot tell you what to eat because everybody is different in this regard, however from my personal research the BEST thing that you can do is go on a raw foods diet. I’d suggest a 30 day trial to test it out and see if it is right for you so that you do not feel “committed for life” but atleast you gave it a chance. This has been highly recommended from many sources including a special on the Oprah show. More information here: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/12/30-days-raw/

Whatever happens, good luck! The fact that you have read this far means that you have a strong desire to get healthy, and that is the most important part. You cannot change if you do not truly WANT to change. Be sure to link this to all of the people you care about, so that they can make a healthy life change as well!

Technorati Tags: Diet, Health, Food, Excercise, 30 day trial, running, life change, breaking bad habits

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